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THE  STORY  OF 
THE  FISHES 

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BIOLOG/ 

LIBRARY 
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<M/T 


AMERICAN    FOOD    FISHES. 


APPLE  TONS'   HOME  READING   BOOKS 


THE 

STORY T°HFE  FISHES 


BY 


JAMES  NEWTON  ^BASKETT,   M.  A. 

AUTHOR    OF 
THE   STORY    OF    THE    BIRDS,    ETC. 


NEW    YORK 
D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 

1899 


QLbi  •; 


COPYRIGHT,  1899, 
BY  D.   APPLETON  AND   COMPANY. 


Hppletone'  Tbome  IReafcing  Books 

EDITED   BY 
WILLIAM   T.   HARRIS,   A.M.,   LL.  D. 

UNITED  STATES  COMMISSIONER  OF  EDUCATION 


DIVISION    I 

NATURAL  HISTORY 


APPLETONS'  HOME-READING  BOOKS. 

Edited  by  W.  T,  HARRIS,  A.  M.,  LL.  U,  U.  S.  Commissioner 
of  Education. 

CLASSED   IN   FOUR   DIVISIONS,    AS   FOLLOWS  : 

THE  FIRST  comprises  natural  history,  including  popular  treatises  on  plants  and  ani- 
mals, and  also  descriptions  of  geographical  localities,  all  of  which  pertain  to  the  study 
of  geography  in  the  common  schools.  Descriptive  astronomy,  and  anything  that  relates 
to  organic  Nature,  comes  under  this  head. 

THE  SECOND  includes  whatever  relates  to  natural  philosophy,  statics,  dynamics, 
properties  of  matter,  and  chemistry,  organic  and  inorganic. 

THE  THIRD  covers  history,  biography,  ethnology,  ethics,  civics,  and  all  that  relates 
to  the  lives  of  individuals  or  of  nations. 

THE  FOURTH,  works  of  general  literature  that  portray  human  nature  in  the  form 
of  feelings,  emotions,  and  the  various  expressions  of  art  and  music. 

Net. 

The  Story  of  the  Birds.     J.  N.   BASKETT $0.65 

The  Story  of  the  Fishes.     J.  N.  BASKETT 65 

The  Plant  World.     FRANK  VINCENT 60 

The  Animal  World.     FRANK  VINCENT 60 

The  Insect  World.     C.  M.  WEED 60 

The  Story  of  Oliver  Twist.     ELLA  B.  KIRK 60 

The  Story  of  Rob  Roy.     EDITH  T.  HARRIS 60 

In  Brook  and  Bayou.     CLARA  KERN  BAYLISS 60 

Curious  Homes  and  their  Tenants.     JAMES  CARTER  BEARD         .        .        .65 

Crusoe's  Island.     F.  A.  ODER 65 

Uncle  Sam's  Secrets.     O.  P.  AUSTIN 75 

The  Hall  of  Shells.     Mrs.  A.  S.  HARDY 60 

Nature  Study  Readers.     J.  W.   TROEGER. 

Harold's  First  Discoveries.     Book  I 25 

Harold's  Rambles.     Book  II 40 

Harold's  Quests.     Book  III 50 

Harold's  Explorations.     Book  IV 

Harold's  Discussions.     Book  V 

Uncle  Robert's  Geography.     FRANCIS  W.   PARKER  and 
NELLIE  L.  HELM. 

Playtime  and  Seedtime.     Book  I 32 

On  the  Farm.     Book  II 42 

Uncle  Robert's  Visit.     Book  III 50 

The  Work  of  Rivers  and  Wind.     Book  IV      ..... 

Mountain,   Plain,  and  Desert.     Book  V 

Our  Own  Continent.     Book  VI 

News  from  the  Birds.     LEANDER  S.  KEYSER 60 

Historic  Boston  and  its  Suburbs.     EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE  ...        .50 

The  Earth  and  Sky.     EDWARD  S.  HOLDEN 28 

The  Family  of  the  Sun.     EUWARD  S.  HOLDEN 42 

Some  Great  Astronomers.     KDWARD  S.   HOLDEN 50 

About  the  Weather.     MARK  W.  HARRINGTON 60 

Stories  from  the  Arabian   Nights.     ADAM  SINGLETON     .... 
Our  Country's  Flag  and  the  Flags  of  Foreign  Countries.     EDWARD 

S.  HOLDEN So 

Our  Navy  in  Time  of  War.     FRANKLIN  MATTHEWS'  .        .        '.        .'75 

The  Story  of  English  Kings  according  to   Shakespeare.     Dr.  J.   J. 

BURNS .65 

Uncle   Sam's   Soldiers.     O.  P.  AUSTIN 75 

Others  in  preparation. 

D.     APPLETON     AND    COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


THIS    BOOK    IS    AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED   TO 

MAUDE   HASTINGS   BRUCE, 

THE  AUTHOR'S  LITTLE  CRITIC 

AND  KINDLY  HELPER 

AS  HE  WROTE. 


304779 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  HOME  READING 
BOOK  SEEIES   BY   THE  EDITOR. 


THE  new  education  takes  two  important  direc- 
tions—one of  these  is  toward  original  observation, 
requiring  the  pupil  to  test  and  verify  what  is  taught 
him  at  school  by  his  own  experiments.  The  infor- 
mation that  he  learns  from  books  or  hears  from  his 
teacher's  lips  must  be  assimilated  by  incorporating  it 
with  his  own  experience. 

The  other  direction  pointed  out  by  the  new  edu- 
cation is  systematic  home  reading.  It  forms  a  part  of 
school  extension  of  all  kinds.  The  so-called  "  Univer- 
sity Extension  "  that  originated  at  Cambridge  and  Ox- 
ford has  as  its  chief  feature  the  aid  of  home  reading  by 
lectures  and  round-table  discussions,  led  or  conducted 
by  experts  who  also  lay  out  the  course  of  reading. 
The  Chautauquan  movement  in  this  country  prescribes 
a  series  of  excellent  books  and  furnishes  for  a  goodly 
number  of  its  readers  annual  courses  of  lectures.  The 
teachers'  reading  circles  that  exist  in  many  States  pre- 
scribe the  books  to  be  read,  and  publish  some  analysis, 
commentary,  or  catechism  to  aid  the  members. 

Home  reading,  it  seems,  furnishes  the  essential 
basis  of  this  great  movement  to  extend  education 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

beyond  the  school  and  to  make  self -culture  a  habit 
of  life. 

Looking  more  carefully  at  the  difference  between 
the  two  directions  of  the  new  education  we  can  see 
what  each  accomplishes.  There  is  first  an  effort  to 
train  the  original  powers  of  the  individual  and  make 
him  self -active,  quick  at  observation,  and  free  in  his 
thinking.  Next,  the  new  education  endeavors,  by  the 
reading  of  books  and  the  study  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
race,  to  make  the  child  or  youth  a  participator  in  the 
results  of  experience  of  all  mankind. 

These  two  movements  may  be  made  antagonistic 
by  poor  teaching.  The  book  knowledge,  containing  as 
it  does  the  precious  lesson  of  human  experience,  may 
be  so  taught  as  to  bring  with  it  only  dead  rules  of 
conduct,  only  dead,  scraps  of  information,  and  no 
stimulant  to  original  thinking.  Its  contents  may  be 
memorized  without  being  understood.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  self -activity  of  the  child  may  be  stimulated 
at  the  expense  of  his  social  well-being — his  originality 
may  be  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  his  rationality. 
If  he  is  taught  persistently  to  have  his  own  way,  to 
trust  only  his  own  senses,  to  cling  to  his  own  opinions 
heedless  of  the  experience  of  his  fellows,  he  is  pre- 
paring for  an  unsuccessful,  misanthropic  career,  and 
is  likely  enough  to  end  his  life  in  a  madhouse. 

It  is  admitted  that  a  too  exclusive  study  of  the 
knowledge  found  in  books,  the  knowledge  which  is 
aggregated  from  the  experience  and  thought  of  other 
people,  may  result  in  loading  the  mind  of  the  pupil 
with  material  which  he  can  not  use  to  advantage. 


EDITOR'S   INTRODUCTION.  jx 

Some  minds  are  so  full  of  lumber  that  there  is  no 
space  left  to  set  up  a  workshop.  The  necessity  of 
uniting  both  of  these  directions  of  intellectual  activity 
in  the  schools  is  therefore  obvious,  but  we  must  not, 
in  this  place,  fall  into  the  error  of  supposing  that  it  is 
the  oral  instruction  in  school  and  the  personal  influ- 
ence of  the  teacher  alone  that  excites  the  pupil  to  ac- 
tivity. Book  instruction  is  not  always  dry  and  theo- 
retical. The  very  persons  wrho  declaim  against  the 
book,  and  praise  in  such  strong  terms  the  self -activity 
of  the  pupil  and  original  research,  are  mostly  persons 
who  have  received  their  practical  impulse  from  read- 
ing the  writings  of  educational  reformers.  Very  few 
persons  have  received  an  impulse  from  personal  con- 
tact with  inspiring  teachers  compared  with  the  num- 
ber that  have  been  aroused  by  reading  such  books  as 
Herbert  Spencer's  Treatise  on  Education,  Rousseau's 
fimile,  Pestalozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude,  Francis 
W.  Parker's  Talks  about  Teaching,  Gr.  Stanley 
Hall's  Pedagogical  Seminary.  Think  in  this  connec- 
tion, too,  of  the  impulse  to  observation  in  natural  sci- 
ence produced  by  such  books  as  those  of  Hugh  Miller, 
Faraday,  Tyndall,  Huxley,  Agassiz,  and  Darwin. 

The  new  scientific  book  is  different  from  the  old. 
The  old  style  book  of  science  gave  dead  results  where 
the  new  one  gives  not  only  the  results,  but  a  minute 
account  of  the  method  employed  in  reaching  those  re- 
sults. An  insight  into  the  method  employed  in  dis- 
covery trains  the  reader  into  a  naturalist,  an  historian, 
a  sociologist.  The  books  of  the  writers  above  named 
have  done  more  to  stimulate  original  research  on  the 


X  THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

part  of  their  readers  than  all  other  influences  com- 
bined. 

It  is  therefore  much  more  a  matter  of  importance 
to  get  the  right  kind  of  book  than  to  get  a  living 
teacher.  The  book  which  teaches  results,  and  at  the 
same  time  gives  in  an  intelligible  manner  the  steps  of 
discovery  and  the  methods  employed,  is  a  book 
which  will  stimulate  the  student  to  repeat  the  ex- 
periments described  and  get  beyond  them  into  fields 
of  original  research  himself.  Every  one  remem- 
bers the  published  lectures  of  Faraday  on  chemistry, 
which  exercised  a  wide  influence  in  changing  the 
style  of  books  on  natural  science,  causing  them  to 
deal  with  method  more  than  results,  and  thus  train 
the  reader's  power  of  conducting  original  research. 
Robinson  Crusoe  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  has 
aroused  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  prompted  young 
men  to  resort  to  the  border  lands  of  civilization.  A 
library  of  home  reading  should  contain  books  that  in- 
cite to  self-activity  and  arouse  the  spirit  of  inquiry. 
The  books  should  treat  of  methods  of  discovery  and 
evolution.  All  nature  is  unified  by  the  discovery  of 
the  law  of  evolution.  Each  and  every  being  in  the 
world  is  now  explained  by  the  process  of  development 
to  which  it  belongs.  Every  fact  now  throws  light  on 
all  the  others  by  illustrating  the  process  of  growth  in 
which  each  has  its  end  and  aim. 

The  Home  Reading  Books  are  to  be  classed  as 
follows : 

First  Division.  Natural  history,  including  popular 
scientific  treatises  on  plants  and  animals,  and  also  de- 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xi 

scriptions  of  geographical  localities.  The  branch  of 
study  in  the  district  school  course  which  corresponds 
to  this  is  geography.  Travels  and  sojourns  in  distant 
lands;  special  writings  which  treat  of  this  or  that 
animal  or  plant,  or  family  of  animals  or  plants ;  any- 
thing that  relates  to  organic  nature  or  to  meteorol- 
ogy, or  descriptive  astronomy  may  be  placed  in  this 


Second  Division.  Whatever  relates  to  physics  or 
natural  philosophy,  to  the  statics  or  dynamics  of  air  or 
water  or  light  or  electricity,  or  to  the  properties  of 
matter ;  whatever  relates  to  chemistry,  either  organic 
or  inorganic — books  on  these  subjects  belong  to  the 
class  that  relates  to  what  is  inorganic.  Even  the  so- 
called  organic  chemistry  relates  to  the  analysis  of 
organic  bodies  into  their  inorganic  compounds. 

Third  Division.  History,  biography,  and  ethnol- 
ogy. Books  relating  to  the  lives  of  individuals;  to 
the  social  life  of  the  nation ;  to  the  collisions  of  na- 
tions in  war,  as  well  as  to  the  aid  that  one  nation 
gives  to  another  through  commerce  in  times  of  peace ; 
books  on  ethnology  relating  to  the  modes  of  life  of 
savage  or  civilized  peoples ;  on  primitive  manners 
and  customs — books  on  these  subjects  belong  to  the 
third  class,  relating  particularly  to  the  human  will, 
not  merely  the  individual  will  but  the  social  will, 
the  will  of  the  tribe  or  nation ;  and  to  this  third 
class  belong  also  books  on  ethics  and  morals,  and 
on  forms  of  government  and  laws,  and  what  is  in- 
cluded under  the  term  civics,,  or  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship. 


xii  THE  STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

Fourth  Division.  The  fourth  class  of  books  in- 
cludes more  especially  literature  and  works  that  make 
known  the  beautiful  in  such  departments  as  sculpture, 
painting,  architecture  and  music.  Literature  and  art 
show  human  nature  in  the  form  of,  feelings,  emotions, 
and  aspirations,  and  they  show  how  these  feelings 
lead  over  to  deeds  and  to  clear  thoughts.  This  de- 
partment of  books  is  perhaps  more  important  than 
any  other  in  our  home  reading,  inasmuch  as  it  teaches 
a  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  enables  us  to  un- 
derstand the  motives  that  lead  our  fellow-men  to 
action. 

PLAN  FOR  USE  AS  SUPPLEMENTARY  READING. 

The  first  work  of  the  child  in  the  school  is  to 
learn  to  recognize  in  a  printed  form  the  words  that 
are  familiar  to  him  by  ear.  These  words  constitute 
what  is  called  the  colloquial  vocabulary.  They  are 
words  that  he  has  come  to  know  from  having  heard 
them  used  by  the  members  of  his  family  and  by  his 
playmates.  He  uses  these  words  himself  with  con- 
siderable skill,  but  what  he  knows  by  ear  he  does  not 
yet  know  by  sight.  It  will  require  many  weeks, 
many  months  even,  of  constant  effort  at  reading  the 
printed  page  to  bring  him  to  the  point  where  the 
sight  of  the  written  word  brings  up  as  much  to  his 
mind  as  the  sound  of  the  spoken  word.  But  patience 
and  practice  will  by  and  by  make  the  printed  word 
far  more  suggestive  than  the  spoken  word,  as  every 
scholar  may  testify. 

In  order  to  bring  about  this  familiarity  with  the 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

printed  word  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  re-en- 
force the  reading  in  the  school  by  supplementary 
reading  at  home.  Books  of  the  same  grade  of  diffi- 
culty with  the  reader  used  in  school  are  to  be  pro- 
vided for  the  pupil.  They  must  be  so  interesting 
to  him  that  he  will  read  them  at  home,  using  his  time 
before  and  after  school,  and  even  his  holidays,  for 
this  purpose. 

But  this  matter  of  familiarizing  the  child  with  the 
printed  word  is  only  one  half  of  the  object  aimed  at 
by  the  supplementary  home  reading.  He  should 
read  that  which  interests  him.  He  should  read  that 
which  will  increase  his  power  in  making  deeper 
studies,  and  what  he  reads  should  tend  to  correct  his 
habits  of  observation.  Step  by  step  he  should  be 
initiated  into  the  scientific  method.  Too  many  ele- 
mentary books  fail  to  teach  the  scientific  method  be- 
cause they  point  out  in  an  unsystematic  way  only 
those  features  of  the  object  which  the  untutored 
senses  of  the  pupil  wrould  discover  at  first  glance.  It 
is  not  useful  to  tell  the  child  to  observe  a  piece  of 
chalk  and  see  that  it  is  white,  more  or  less  friable, 
and  that  it  makes  a  mark  on  a  fence  or  a  wall.  Sci- 
entific observation  goes  immediately  behind  the  facts 
which  lie  obvious  to  a  superficial  investigation. 
Above  all,  it  directs  attention  to  such  features  of  the 
object  as  relate  it  to  its  environment.  It  directs  at- 
tention to  the  features  that  have  a  causal  influence  in 
making  the  object  what  it  is  and  in  extending  its 
effects  to  other  objects.  Science  discovers  the  recip- 
rocal action  of  objects  one  upon  another. 


xiv  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

After  the  child  has  learned  how  to  observe  what 
is  essential  in  one  class  of  objects  he  is  in  a  measure 
fitted  to  observe  for  himself  all  objects  that  resemble 
this  class.  After  he  has  learned  how  to  observe  the 
seeds  of  the  milkweed,  he  is  partially  prepared  to 
observe  the  seeds  of  the  dandelion,  the  burdock,  and 
the  thistle.  After  he  has-  learned  how  to  study  the 
history  of  his  native  country,  he  has  acquired  some 
ability  to  study  the  history  of  England  and  Scotland 
or  France  or  Germany.  In  the  same  way  the  daily 
preparation  of  his  reading  lesson  at  school  aids  him 
to  read  a  story  of  Dickens  or  Walter  Scott. 

The  teacher  of  a  school  will  know  how  to  obtain 
a  small  sum  to  invest  in  supplementary  reading.  In 
a  graded  school  of  four  hundred  pupils  ten  books  of 
each  number  are  sufficient,  one  set  of  ten  books  to  be 
loaned  the  first  week  to  the  best  pupils  in  one  of  the 
rooms,  the  next  week  to  the  ten  pupils  next  in  ability. 
On  Monday  afternoon  a  discussion  should  be  held 
over  the  topics  of  interest  to  the  pupils  who  have 
read  the  book.  The  pupils  who  have  not  yet  read 
the  book  will  become  interested,  and  await  anxiously 
their  turn  for  the  loan  of  the  desired  volume.  Another 
set  of  ten  books  of  a  higher  grade  may  be  used  in  the 
same  way  in  a  room  containing  more  advanced  pupils. 
The  older  pupils  who  have  left  school,  and  also  the 
parents,  should  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to 
read  the  books  brought  home  from  school.  Thus  is 
begun  that  continuous  education  by  means  of  the  pub- 
lic library  which  is  not  limited  to  the  school  period, 
but  lasts  through  life.  W.  T.  HARRIS. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Nov.  16,  1896. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

TALK  I. — What  we  may  see  on  the  outside  of  a  fish  to  talk 

about ;  or  catching  a  fish  and  examining  it         .        1 
IT. — Interesting  things  inside  the  fish  ;  what  it  may  do 

and  how  it  does  it 9 

III. — How  a  fish  is  defined,  where  it  gets  its  shape,  and 
why  it  has  it ;  or  the  body,  head,  tail,  jaws,  etc., 

as  affecting  form  and  habits 14 

IV — How  a  fish  is  fixed  for  going  in  a  straight  line  and 
for  getting  along  in  life ;  or  the  unpaired  ver- 
tical fins  and  the  tail 29 

V. — How  a  fish  poses  and  keeps  its  head  and  back  up ; 

or  the  paired  fins  and  their  uses,  location,  etc.     .      39 
VI. — How  a  fish  uses  threads  and  needles,  and  may  wear 
patchwork  as  a  garment   and   armor;  or  rays, 

spines,  scales,  and  skin 50 

\  YII. — How  a  fish  knows  the  world  and  what  it  seems  to 
know  of  it ;  or  the  senses  of  touch,  taste,  smell, 
hearing,  and  sight,  and  their  corresponding  or- 
gans   64 

VIII. — How  a  fish  looks  its  best  and  makes  the  most  of  its 
accomplishments ;  or  the  expression  of  eyes, 
mouth,  jaws,  etc.,  and  other  ornaments  and  their 

display    .        .        . 78 

xv 


xvi  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

PAGE 

TALK  IX. — How  a  fish  escapes  from  its  foes  and  slips 
through  life  rather  easily  ;  or  protective  colors, 

means  of  escape,  and  mucus 91 

X. — How  a  fish  fights  its  foes  and  makes  itself  disagree- 
able generally  ;  or  weapons,  electric  organs,  and 

poisons 100 

XL — A  glance  inside  of  a  fish  at  a  few  of  the  things  it  keeps 

there  ;  or  mouth,  teeth,  gullet,  stomach,  etc.        .     114 
XII. — How  a  fish  gets  its  breath,  and,  with  only  half  a 
heart,  keeps  up  its  circulation  ;  or  gills,  heart, 
and  blood-vessels 125 

XIII. — How  the  fishes  came  near  having  lungs,  and  may 
have  lost  them  or  exchanged  them  for  something 
better  ;  or  lungs  and  air-bladders  .  .  .  .137 

XIV. — How  some  fishes  spend  their  winter  and  summer 
vacations  at  home  if  they  choose,  and  how  others 
travel  for  health  and  comfort ;  or  hibernation, 
migration,  etc 149 

I  XV. — What  place  a  fish  may  hail  from  and  where  is  its 
home  when  it  has  any  ;  or  distribution,  home, 
and  haunt .  160 

XVI. — Why  a  fish  may  love  its  fellows,  and  how  it  may 
win  a  mate  and  bring  up  its  children  ;  or  shoal- 
ing, courting,  nesting,  spawning,  care  of  young, 

etc.. 170 

/  XVII. — What  a  fish  may  eat  and  how  it -may  get  it,  and 
how  it  is  hatched  and  gets  its  growth  ;  or  food, 

hatching,  and  growth 184 

XVIII. — Where  a  fish  wears  its  bones,  how  it  moves  them, 
and  how  it  may  not  be  so  brainy  now  as  it  once 
was  ;  or  bones,  muscles,  nerves,  and  brain  .  .  192 


CONTENTS.  xvii 


TALK  XIX. — How  a  fish  may  show  its  raising,  and  thus 
keep  a  family  record,  along  with  that  found  in 
the  rocks ;  or  vestiges,  fossils,  and  parts  peculiar 

to  the  young 205 

XX. — How  a  fish  is  brought  up  by  hand  and  helps  to  feed 

the  nations  ;  or  fish-culture  and  fisheries     .        .     223 
XXI. — How  a  fish  is  headed  off  at  times  and  may  be  taken 
by  hook  and  by  crook  at  others  ;  or  a  few  fishing 

methods 231 

XXII. — A  glance  over  the  field  and  a  review  of  the  great 
groups  of  the  fishes,  and  some  of  their  subdi- 
visions ;  or  families,  genera,  and  species      .        .     248 
XXIII. — Some  finny  friends  worth  knowing  and   how  to 
know  them ;  or  twenty-five  families  of  familiar 

fishes,  and  a  key 257 

KEY  TO  THE  FAMILIES  OF  FAMILIAR  FISHES  .        .    285 
INDEX  ,    289 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTKATIONS. 


B-IO.  PAGE 

1.  Golden  carp  or  goldfish 2 

2.  The  pike 5 

3.  Head  of  a  fish  laid  open 7 

4.  Dissection  of  the  pharynx  of  a  fish 10 

5.  The  black-swallower 11 

6.  Sea-animals  that  have  no  backbone 16 

7.  Nearest  living  allies  of  Devonian  fishes    ....  18 

8.  The  white  shark 19 

9.  Sea-lamprey,  river  lamprey,  and  sand-lamprey         .        .  20 

10.  Thelancelet 22 

11.  Flatfish 24 

12.  Salt-water  sunfish 25 

13.  Hammerhead  shark 27 

14.  Moon  fish  or  spadefish 28 

15.  Threadfish  or  cutlass  fish,  hair-fin,  and  tail  of  sulphur- 

bottom  whale 30 

16.  The  external  parts  of  a  fish 32 

17.  The  origin  of  fins 35 

18.  The  sand  cusk  and  nerasferidae  cusk         ....  36 

19.  Horned  dogfish,  the  mullet,  and  mackerel  shark      .        .  37 

20.  Sea-robin  and  climbing  perch 42 

21.  Mud-skippers 43 

22.  The  motions  of  the  dorsal  fin 46 

23.  Batfish 47 

24.  American  sea  horse  and  Australian  sea  horse  .        .        .48 

25.  Flying-fish  and  flying  gurnards        .....  49 

26.  Angel-fish 51 


xx  THE  STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 

FIG.  PAGE 

27.  John  Doree 53 

28.  Young  of  goosefish  or  angler .54 

29.  Trunkfish  and  rabbit-fish .      60 

30.  Ganoid  scale .61 

31.  American  garpike       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .61 

32.  Cycloid  scale ,        .      62 

33.  Ctenoid  scale 62 

34.  The  burbot 66 

35.  Head  of  four  eyes 72 

36.  Phosphorescent  deep-sea  fishes         .        .        .        .        .       74 

37.  Forkbeard 79 

38.  Mousefish 80 

39.  The  Bergylt,  rosefish,  or  Norway  haddock        ...       81 

40.  Curved  under  jaw  of  salmon 82 

41.  Bones  of  the  lower  jaw  of  salmon 83 

42.  Trumpet-  or  bellows-fish 83 

43.  Swordfish 84 

44.  Sawfish,  profile  view  and  view  of  under  part   ...       85 

45.  Silver  moonfish  or  lookdown 90 

46.  Common  sculpin  and  Greenland  sculpin  ....     104 

47.  Sea-porcupine  and  swellfish 105 

48.  Fox  shark  or  thresher 106 

49.  Shanny  and  weaver 109 

50.  Torpedo .112 

51.  Skeleton  of  a  perch 116 

52.  Siphonal  form  of  stomach 121 

53.  Caecal  form  of  stomach 121 

54.  Young  dogfish    .        .        .        ...        .        .        .     127 

55.  Diagram  of  circulation  of  blood  through  the  gills  .        .129 

56.  The  Ceratodus  of  Queensland 145 

57.  Lepidosiren        .        .        .        .        <, .       .        .        .        .     146 

58.  Diagram  of  the  growth  of  a  sea-squirt  or  Ascidian  .        .     147 

59.  The  black  goby 151 

60.  Remoras  and  shark .        .159 

61.  Egg  of  skate       . 173 

62.  Antennarius  and  nest 176 

63.  Stickleback  and  nest 179 

64.  The  hagfish 186 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xxj 

FIG-  PAGE 

65.  Fish-eggs  and  young  fish 189 

66.  Structure  of  heterocercal  or  vertebrated  tail-fin     .        .  199 

67.  Head  and  fore  limb  of  a  Ceratodus         ....  202 

68.  Hind  limb  of  same 202 

69.  Young  of  goosefish  or  angler 209 

70.  The  lines  of  descent  in  fish 211 

71.  Ganoids 212 

72.  Pteraspis  restored  by  Power  and  Lankaster  .        .        .  212 

73.  Pterychthys  restored 213 

74.  Coccosteus  decipiens 213 

75.  76.  Ganoids 214 

77,  78.  Ganoids 215 

79.  Bichir 215 

80.  Garfish 216 

81.  American  bowfin  or  mudfish 216 

82.  Ganoid .        .216 

83.  Platysomus  gibbosus ,217 

84-86.  Teleosts 217 

87.  Teleosts 220 

88.  Trawl  or  bag-net 232 

89.  Drift-  or  gill-net  at  surface 233 

90.  European  bream  and  pilchard 235 

91.  Drift-  or  gill-net  at  bottom      ......  236 

92.  Pulling  in  large  seine 237 

93.  Pulling  in  pursed  seine 238 

94.  Pulling  in  gill-net  that  is  fastened  at  one  end        .        .  239 

95.  Tide-water  weir 240 

96.  Trawl 242 

97.  Different  kinds  of  hooks 243 

98.  Dragonet 245 

99.  The  pilot-fish  and  spookfish 249 

100.  Lancelot,  or  Amphioxus ' .  252 

101.  Lamprey 252 

102.  Hag,  or  Myxine 252 

103.  Sting-ray  !        .        .        . 253 

104.  Lepidosiren 254 

105.  The  paddlefish 255 

106.  Sturgeon .        .259 


xxii  THE  STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

FIG.  PAGE 

107.  Catfish .        .260 

108.  Rainbow  trout 264 

109.  Eel .266 

110.  Mackerel 267 

111.  Tunny  or  horse  mackerel 268 

112.  Big-mouthed  black  bass  and  little-mouthed  black  bass  .     271 

113.  White  perch  and  yellow  perch 274 

114.  Haddock,  whiting,  and  cod 279 

115.  Sea-raven  or  deep-sea  sculpin 280 

116.  Frogfish  or  angler 283 

117.  Toadfish    .  .     284 


THE   STORY   OP   THE   FISHES. 


TALK  I. 

What  we  may  see  on  the  outside  of  a  fish  to  talk  about ;  or  catch- 
ing a  fish  and  examining  it. 

LET  us  suppose  that  in  some  walk  we  have  caught 
a  little  fish  out  of  an  inland  pond  or  brook.  It  is 
very  apt  to  be  one  of  the  fresh-water  suntishes  often 
known  as  "  breams,"  "  pumpkin-seeds  "  (see  Fig.  1), 
or  simply  "  pond-fish."  It  is  an  admirable  specimen 
because,  in  all  Nature,  there  is  probably  no  fish  that 
presents  more  perfectly  the  character  of  the  class  to 
which  it  belongs,  all  things  considered. 

Perhaps  the  first  thing  that  we  notice  is  its  strug- 
gles as  it  hangs  on  the  line  or  lies  on  the  grass — an  al- 
ternate wriggling,  or  bending  first  on  one  side  and 
then  on  the  other,  as  though  it  hoped  to  escape  by 
this  means.  Since  this  motion  is  not  one  by  which 
progress  can  be  made,  either  in  the  air  or  on  the 
earth,  we  conclude  that  it  belongs  always  where  we 
have  found  it — in  the  water. 

Now  that  we  come  to  think  of  it,  the  whole  FORM 
of  the  creature  indicates  the  same  thing — that  it  is 
intended  to  move  through  some  resisting  fluid,  for  it 
is  shaped  as  a  wedge  at  l>oih  ends. 

1 


FlG.  1. — Golden  carp  or  goldfish  (Carassius  auratus],  uppermost  figure. 
Catfish  or  horned  pout  (Amiurus  nebnlosm).  Fresh -water  sunfish 
or  pumpkin-seed  (Lepomis  gibbosns). 


TOPICS  FOR  FUTURE  CONSIDERATION.  3 

This  fact  means  something  more,  for  it  tells  us 
that  the  creature  is  intended  not  only  to  move  but  to 
move  rapidly.  We  ourselves  are  made  to  move 
through  the  fluid  which  we  calJ  air,  but  man  was 
never  expected  to  cleave  it  as  does  a  bird,  else  he 
would  have  been  shaped  like  one,  and  he  would  have 
been  so  formed  that  he  would  go  through  it  endwise 
as  an  arrow  flies  or  a  greyhound  runs. 

The  gradual  tapering  of  the  bird  toward  the  rear 
is  also  connected  with  its  swift  flight ;  for  you  will 
learn  after  a  while  that  an  object  going  rapidly 
through  any  medium  pressing  around  it  can  make 
better  speed  because  of  this  shape  than  it  could  if  it 
were  very  blunt  or  square  behind.  But  while  this 
build  aids  the  fishes  in  going  quickly  through  the 
water,  they  are  thinned  off  behind  for  another  reason, 
more  closely  connected  with  their  swimming  well  ; 
the  tail  is  their  great  single  paddle  or  skull-oar  which 
pushes  their  boatlike  bodies  along,  by  quick  strong 
strokes,  first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other,  like 
those  we  saw,  just  now,  in  the  struggles  of  the  fish 
we  have  just  caught. 

So  we  shall  have  to  say  something  about  this  part 
of  the  fish  in  another  chapter.  It  is  a  very  impor- 
tant and  interesting  topic. 

This  wigwag  motion  is  in  fact  the  only  one  pos- 
sible for  most  kinds  of  fishes,  shaped  as  they  are,  hav- 
ing, like  the  sunfish,  flat  sides  and  arched  back  and 
under  parts,  and  great  comparative  depth  from  the 
highest  part  of  their  backs  to  the  lowest  parts  beneath. 
A  glance  at  our  sunfish  shows  how  absurd  it  would  be 


4  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

to  expect  such  a  creature  to  bend  up  and  down  as 
well  as  sideways.  There  are  fish  differently  formed 
from  the  sunfish — as,  for  instance,  the  sea-horses— 
that  do  not  bend  their  tails  from  side  to  side,  but  in 
the  opposite  direction.  Most  animals,  in  fact,  that 
progress  by  skulling  with  their  tails,  as  tadpoles,  ma- 
rine lizards,  and  sea-snakes,  as  well  as  fish,  use  the 
wigwag  motion  in  swimming.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
fish  have  inherited  the  manner  in  which  they  swim 
from  the  sea- worms  that  are  thought  to  be  their  re- 
mote ancestors,  but,  however  true  this  may  be,  it  can 
not  be  said  that  it  is  proved  to  a  certainty.  It  may 
well  be  supposed,  indeed,  in  view  of  all  the  facts,  that 
this  way  of  swimming  belongs  to  fish  not  only,  if  at 
all,  because  it  was  the  habit  of  their  very-great,  many 
times  great-grandparents,  but  because,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  fish  that  swim  in  this  way  could  not  swim 
quite  as  well  in  any  other. 

All  fishes  are  not  shaped  for  speed.  Some  do  not 
have  very  thin  vertical  paddlelike  tails,  some  have 
scarcely  any  tail  at  all,  while  others  possess  blunt 
heads  or  great,  clumsy,  lumplike  bodies.  Their  en- 
tire FORMS  are  altered  to  suit  the  kinds  of  lives  they 
lead  ;  so  that  one  who  is  learned  about  fish  can  glance 
at  the  FORM  and  tell  you  much  about  the  HABITS  and 
HOMES  of  the  creature  to  which  the  form  belongs, 
without  ever  having  seen  it  before.  Fishes  show  by 
their  peculiar  build  what  they  can  do  just  as  certainly 
as  long- winged  birds,  for  instance,  swallows,  gulls,  and 
hawks,  and  long-legged  quadrupeds,  as  deer,  hares,  and 
hounds,  show  by  their  shape  that  they  are  swift ;  or 


TOPICS  FOR  FUTL'RE  CONSIDERATION.  5 

the  tortoise  and  sloth  show  that  they  are  slow.  This 
little  sunfish  is  intended  for  quick  and  sudden  spurts 
of  speed,  as  is  a  ground-haunting  quail  with  its  short, 
round,  quickly  fluttered  wings;  but  a  mackerel,  a 
shark,  or  a  pike  (see  Fig.  2)  show  by  their  build  that 
they  are  all  capable  of  greater  speed,  long  kept  up. 
They  can  swim  twenty  or  twenty -five  miles,  including 
stoppages,  per  hour,  for  weeks.  If  you  saw  a  look- 


FIG.  2.— The  pike  (Esox  lucius}. 

down  which  is  nearly  all  head  and  no  tail,  a  moonfish,  a 
lump-fish  with  an  almost  shapeless  body,  or  one  of  the 
flat-fish,  a  flounder,  for  example,  fitted  only  for  the 
bottom,  you  would  know  at  once  what  a  lazy  life  it 
must  live.  Thus  FORM  becomes  an  interesting  topic 
in  our  talks. 

Now  let  us  pick  up  our  fish.  But  we  find  it  slip- 
pery with  a  sort  of  Mucus,  or  slime,  so  that  we  can 
scarcely  hold  it. 

Perhaps  the  next  thing  that  impresses  us  is  that 
this  creature  lies  gasping  in  our  hands  as  if  it  could 
not  get  its  breath,  though  it  is  out  of  doors  in  a  world 
fall  of  good  air ;  and  almost  while  we  wonder  at  it, 


6  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

it  dies.  We  conclude,  therefore,  again  that  it  is  fitted 
only  for  life  in  the  water;  and  another  interesting 
topic  is  presented  to  us,  as  to  how  fishes  breathe  in  a 
place  where  we  should  so  quickly  drown.  This  will 
be  treated  under  RESPIRATION. 

Here,  as  we  attempt  to  handle  the  little  body,  we 
are  very  impressively  reminded  of  some  spiny  mem- 
branes upon  it  similar  to  that  upon  the  tail.  Our 
fingers  in  this  case  have  been  painfully  pricked  by 
them.  So  the  topic  of  FINS  must  claim  our  attention, 
for  fins  are  very  necessary,  very  variable  in  shape  and 
number,  and  very  interesting  members  generally  of  a 
fish's  make-up.  Take  them  all  around,  they  are  about 
as  perfect  in  all  respects  in  this  little  fish  as  you  will 
find  them  anywhere.  They  have  many  uses  which 
we  will  discuss  later.  But  this  smarting  pain  in  our 
fingers  reminds  us  of  the  topic  of  WEAPONS  also, 
which  we  shall  have  to  remember,  for  even  this  little 
fellow  fights  with  its  fins  and  defends  with  them  its 
NEST,  EGGS,  and  YOUNG — three  more  new  topics  in  a 
row.  Wherever  in  this  talk  you  see  a  word  in  small 
capitals,  it  means  that  you  are  going  to  hear  more  on 
that  subject  hereafter. 

As  we  pass  forward  on  the  body  we  find  on  each 
side  in  front  of  the  fins  a  gashlike  opening  by  which 
our  fish  has  been  gasping.  This  may  be  called  the  gill- 
opening.  Inside  of  it  are  a  lot  of  interesting  things 
called  GILLS,  whereby  the  creature  breathes.  We 
must  talk  of  these  again  ;  for,  while  other  animals  have 
gills,  none  have  anything  just  like  these  of  the  fishes, 
of  which  there  are  also  many  kinds  (Fig.  3,  on  page  7). 


TOPICS  FOR  FUTURE  CONSIDERATION.  7 

This  will  introduce  again  the  topic  of  RESPIRA- 
TION, and  the  various  other  organs  by  which  a  fish 
gets  its  breath. 

As  fishes'  HEADS  are  adapted  in  shape  and  size  to 
the  various  uses  to  which  they  are  put  and  are  more 
modified  for  the  purposes  than  are  those  of  many  other 
backboned  animals,  they  will  de- 
tain us  a  while.  Whether  we 
human  folk  get  our  living  by  our 
hands,  feet,  bodies,  face,  delicate 
fingers,  or  general  shape,  our 
heads  are  only  slightly  changed 
in  all  the  trades  or  professions. 
Those  having  heavy  burdens  on 
them,  for  instance,  are  only  a  position  of  gills, 
trifle,  if  any,  flatter  than  the  aver- 
age. But  we  shall  find  a  fish's  head  is  shaped  to  its 
speed,  its  position,  the  method  of  catching  its  prey, 
swallowing  its  food,  or  fighting  its  enemy. 

Perhaps  the  MOUTH  is  the  most  formative  part  of 
a  fish's  head — at  least  the  most  expressive  feature  of 
its  face.  It  ranges  from  the  most  capacious  horizon- 
tal gash,  almost  from  gill  to  gill,  to  that  of  a  long, 
snipelike  beak  or  true  pipe  through  which  the  finny 
toper  may  suck  up  his  good  things  as  through  a 
straw. 

This  leads  us  to  the  FOOD  of  fishes  and  the  inter- 
esting kindred  topic  of  FEEDING  HABITS. 

Before  we  enter  the  mouth  figuratively,  the  EYE 
and  the  NOSE  claim  our  attention  and  demand  a  joint 
treatment  with  the  EAR  and  all  the  so-called  SENSES, 


8  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHE3. 

such  as  SEEING,  SMELLING,  HEARING,  TASTING,  and 
TOUCH,  and  their  organs. 

Some  fishes  have  special  organs  of  touch  called 
BARBELS,  which  will  be  noticed,  but  much  of  their 
TOUCHING  is  located  purely  upon  the  surface.  The 
method  of  a  fish's  touching  tells  us  a  great  deal  of  its 
habits. 

In  treating  the  SKIN  we  are  necessarily  attracted 
to  the  SKIN-COVERING — which  is  usually  in  the  form 
of  SCALES,  as  is  the  case  with  our  little  sunfish  here. 
But  all  fish  do  not  possess  scales.  Some  tend  to  have 
bony  plates,  and  even  ivory  as  a  garment ;  and  many 
dress  in  more  or  less  splendor  at  certain  seasons  and 
more  plainly  at  others.  Note  the  rich  orange,  green, 
and  gold  about  our  little  specimen  here,  and  you  will 
see  that  another  very  interesting  subject  claims  our 
attention— that  is,  COLOR  and  what  it  may  often 
tell  us. 


TALK  II. 

Interesting  things  inside  the  fish ;  what  it  may  do  and  how  it 
does  it. 

LET  us  now  suppose  that  we  are  at  home,  and  wish 
to  dress  or  undress  our  little  fish,  so  that  we  may  en- 
joy it  on  the  table. 

A  great  deal  may  be  learned  about  the  anatomy 
of  the  commoner  creatures  in  this  way,  especially  by 
boys ;  and  little  girls  who  expect  to  have  homes  after 
a  while  should  know  enough  of  this  to  direct  the 
ofttimes-inexperienced  cook  about  the  proper  prepa- 
ration of  game  for  the  table.  There  have  been  some 
laughable  and  very  embarrassing  happenings  of  this 
kind  in  the  early  experience  of  young  housekeepers. 

As  we  begin  to  explore  our  fish  internally,  the 
LIPS  are  the  first  in  order.  We  shall  find,  as  wre  study 
the  MOUTH,  that  these  and  the  JAWS  are  quite  variable 
in  fishes. 

One  fish,  it  may  be,  thinks  he  makes  himself  very 
pretty  by  thrusting  out  his  lower  jaw,  which  at  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year  has  a  peculiar  hook  upon  it. 
Others,  as  we  shall  see,  possess  great  thrusting,  sword- 
like  WEAPONS  formed  of  JAWS. 

Naturally,  we  would  associate  TEETH  with  the 
jaws,  but  we  must  not  suppose  that  we  shall  find  them 
here  only  ;  for  they  are  not  only  on  the  lips  of  our 

9 


10 


THE  STORY   OF  THE   FISHES. 


specimen  and  many  others,  but  on  so  many  other 
queer  places  (even  down  the  throat,  or  on  the  tongue, 
if  the  fish  has  one,  which  is  not  always  the  case) 
that  it  seems  as  if  when  Nature  found  any  va- 

,  Q     cant  surface  in  a  fish's 
/'    /     mouth  she  planted  teeth 
there. 

Now  let  us  take  a 
knife  and  cut  our  fish 
open  below,  after  hav- 
ing properly  removed 
the  SCALES  and  kept  a 
few  of  them  for  later 
study.  Notice  that  there 
is  a  line  running  down 
each  side  of  the  body, 
called  the  LATERAL 
LINE,  and  preserve  a 
few  scales  from  this  also. 
They  are  different  from 
the  others. 

FIG.  4. — Dissection  of  the  pharynx  T  ... 

of  a  fish.     Showing,  by  arrows  B,  In  Cutting   Open    Our 

the  flow  of  the  water;  ^4,  the  gill  fish    W6    find    llOW    thin 

arches;    C,  the  gills;  D,  the  ex-  the   waU    of   flegh   ig   be_ 

ternal  openings ;  G,  the  gullet.  ,  ,       ,     .      .      . 

low,  as  indeed  it  is  in 

all  animals  having  a  backbone ;  but  a  fish  is  especially 
thick  above  where  the  muscles  are. 

The  first  thing  we  note  after  the  great  cavity  in 
the  back  part  of  the  mouth,  called  the  PHARYNX,  is 
the  tube  called  the  swallow  or  GULLET  (Fig.  4). 

The  passage  to  the  stomach  is  very  short  and  the 


THE   HEART  OF  A  FISH. 


11 


stomach  itself  often  very  large.  Some  fish  throw  their 
great  stomachs  over  creatures  bigger  than  themselves, 
almost  as  a  fowler  throws  his  net. 


FIG.  5. — The  black  swal lower  (Chiasmodon  nifjer)  as  it  appears  after 
swallowing  a  fish  larger  than  itself. 

If  we  rip  up  the  region  between  the  gills,  we  find 
the  fish's  HEART — always  "in  his  throat,"  though  he 
is  so  cool-blooded  and  unemotional ;  and  back  from 
this  run  tubes  to  carry  the  BLOOD,  one  especially 
noticeable  just  beneath  the  BACKBONE. 

Under  this  tube,  but  still  in  the  roof  of  this  short 
3 


12  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

and  narrow  body  cavity,  lies  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting little  contrivances  in  all  Nature — the  swim- 
bladder,  or  AIR-BLADDER,  as  we  shall  prefer  to  call  it. 
It  is  so  variable  in  shape  and  uses  in  different  fishes 
that  we  shall  have  to  talk  of  it  at  some  length  and  get 
some  artist  to  draw  you  some  pictures  of  the  different 
kinds.  But  no  picture  can  present  the  beautiful 
pearl-like  luster  and  light,  airy  structure  of  it  which 
you  can  see  here  now  only  in  the  real  fish. 

Now  if,  as  we  eat  our  fish,  we  pull  the  flesh  off 
carefully,  we  may  study  something  of  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  bones.  First,  there  are  spiny  or  gristly 
spines  or  filaments  among  the  fins  called  RAYS. 
These  are  not  all  alike :  some  are  attached  to  the 
flesh  only ;  others  have  other  spines  beneath  them 
reaching  toward  the  backbone,  and  the  spiny  parts  of 
the  backbone  reach  up  toward  these  last.  The  front 
fins  are  attached  to  the  head,  and  in  arrangement  the 
four  lower  fins  are  like  legs. 

The  ribs,  which  are  the  bones  that  usually  are  the 
most  apt  to  stick  in  your  throat,  lie  loosely  in  the 
flesh  and  do  not  meet  a  breastbone  below  as  they  do 
in  man  ;  and  they  run  up  almost  entirely  to  the  head, 
so  that  a  fish  has  hardly  any  NECK. 

Finally,  within  the  head  and  the  hollow  of  the 
backbone  lie  the  brain  and  most  of  the  NERVOUS  SYS- 
TEM of  the  fish. 

Occasionally,  now,  as  we  examine  and  eat  the 
greater  part  of  our  little  fish  and  compare  its  parts 
with  those  of  others,  let  us  turn  aside  to  those  imma- 
terial yet  equally  important  and  more  interesting 


HABITS  OF  FISH.  13 

things  that  go  to  make  up  its  life  and  character,  and 
with  us  in  our  third  talk  form  a  sort  of  sauce  to  its 
flesh  and  bones.  These  may  cause  it  to  differ  as 
much  from  others  as  any  peculiarities  of  structure. 

They  all  might  be  included  under  the  great  super- 
topic  of  HABITS,  but  we  shall  prefer  to  taste  them 
here  and  there  as  a  relish.  This  idea  of  habit  means 
at  least  three  things — that  is,  what  a  creature  does, 
why  it  does  what  it  does,  and  how  and  when  and 
where  it  does  it.  Every  creature  is  very  largely  de- 
fined by  one  or  all  of  these  things.  It  may  do  com- 
monplace things,  but  do  them  in  a  curious  manner ; 
it  may  do  queer  things  in  a  very  uninteresting  man- 
ner ;  or  it  may  be  curious  and  interesting  in  doing 
strange  things  in  a  strange  way,  place,  or  time,  or 
with  strange  implements.  Thus,  flying  is  a  common 
thing,  but  for  a  fish  to  fly  with  fins  is  queer  indeed. 

Where  a  creature  lives,  as  a  fish,  for  instance,  in  a 
general  way,  is  called  by  men  of  science  its  habitat ; 
but  perhaps  we  might  call  this  its  HOME  ;  and  the  ex- 
act sort  of  place  where  it  lies  is  called  the  HAUNT. 
Thus  a  fish's  home  is  in  the  ocean  or  a  fresh-water 
river,  but  its  haunt  is  under  rocks  or  seaweed,  and  so  on. 

Our  tiny  fish  is  "at  home"  in  fresh-water  ponds 
and  small  streams,  and  its  haunt  is  almost  anywhere 
except  when  it  builds  a  NEST  ;  then  it  stays  by  that. 

There  are  great  regions  where  fish  are  very  abun- 
dant, especially  at  certain  seasons.  These  are  called 
FISHERIES,  and  so  valuable  are  they  that  nations  have 
often  gone  to  war  over  them  and  have  made  great 
treaties  or  contracts  with  each  other  about  them. 


TALK  III. 

How  a  fish  is  defined,  where  it  gets  its  shape,  and  why  it  has  it ; 
or  the  body,  head,  tail,  jaws,  etc.,  as  affecting  form  and 
habits. 

ONLY  a  few  minutes  before  the  beginning  of  this 
talk  the  author  asked  a  group  of  three  young  per- 
sons what  each  would  say  if  some  one  asked,  "  What 
is  a  fish  ? "  The  eldest  said,  "  I  would  tell  him  that 
if  he  was  so  silly  as  not  to  know  what  a  fish  is  he  had 
better  go  and  find  out."  By  this  he  perhaps  meant 
that  the  inquiring  person  "  had  better  go  "  somewhere 
else. 

The  youngest  said,  "  I'd  tell  him  it  was  a  slim, 
slick  thing  that  stayed  in  the  water  and  hadn't  any 
legs,  and — and  was  a  swimmer." 

The  third  between  the  other  two  in  age  would 
say  nothing,  which  is  rather  queer,  since  she  is  a  girl 
and  well-informed.  She  was  silent,  perhaps,  because 
she  knew  too  much,  rather  than  too  little,  of  the 
difficulty  of  suddenly  defining  a  fish. 

In  its  broadest  sense,  the  word  fish  is  hard  to  de- 
fine so  that  every  form  will  come  under  the  defini- 
tion, or  so  that  it  may  exclude  some  other  very  fish- 
like  creatures ;  but  as  we  usually  understand  it,  we 
may  say : 

14 


DEFINITION  OF  A  FISH.  15 

A  fish  is  an  animal  having  in  its  flesh  along  the 
back  a  gristly  or  bony  chord,  and  having,  near  its 
head,  gills  that  are  never  shed,  by  which  it  is  able  to 
breathe  in  water,  where  it  lives  all  its  life,  always 
having '  either  no  limbs  at  all  (very  rarely)  or  else 
(usually)  limbs  that  are  in  the  form  of  fins. 

When  first  written,  there  was  in  the  place  of 
"  gristly  or  bony  chord  "  the  word  "  backbone,"  which 
was  scratched  out  and  replaced  by  "  spinal  column." 
But  many  fish  have  no  bones  in  the  spinal  column  or 
spines  upon  the  gristly  chord  at  all,  hence  the  use  (in 
the  place  of  backbone  or  spinal  column)  of  the  term 
"  gristly  chord,"  which  in  the  lowest  forms  is  not  even 
scarcely  gristly  but  softer. 

All  creatures  having  this  chord,  either  bony  or 
not,  are  called  VERTEBRATES — a  term  it  is  well  to 
remember,  though  it  is  no  more  correct  for  them  all 
than  is  backbone  or  spinal  column.  In  this  great 
division  of  animals  fishes  are  the  lowest. 

Our  definition  excludes,  of  course,  whales,  porpoises, 
and  others  having  apparently  rather  finlike  limbs,  but 
breathing  by  lungs.  A  little  farther  away  are  the 
seals  and  others,  wearing  hair  and  fur,  and  swimming 
with  flippers.  But  all  these  are  mammals,  or  "  beasts," 
to  use  a  Biblical  expression. 

Much  nearer  the  fishes  are  the  salamanders  or  efts 
— sometimes  called  "  water-dogs  "  or  "  mud-puppies  " 
— all  of  which  breathe  by  gills  when  young,  and 
some  of  which  may  breathe  thus  all  their  lives,  but 
when  grown  their  limbs  are  true  legs  with  distinct 
toes,  not  fins.  When  these  are  young,  however,  in 


FIG.  6.-  Sea  animals  that  have  no  backbone. 


HOW  FISHES   ARE   DIVIDED.  1Y 

the  tadpole  state,  our  definition  does  not  cut  them 
out.  Indeed,  then  they  are  fishes,  and  change  to  the 
eft  form  as  they  grow. 

All  are  capable  of  living  on  land  so  long  as  they 
please  after  they  are  grown,  but  many  live  much  in 
water  also. 

Of  course  the  so-called  shellfish,  starfish,  etc.,  are 
not  fish  at  all,  since  they  have  not  even  the  hint  of  a 
backbone. 

Fish  proper  have  been  divided  into  certain  great 
and  natural  divisions  about  which  it  will  be  well  for 
us  to  learn  something  before  we  talk  of  them,  since 
the  names  of  these  divisions  occur  in  all  writings  and 
talks  on  the  subject. 

The  first  and  most  perfect  kind  of  fish  is  that 
which  we  most  frequently  see,  such  as  perch,  codfish, 
salmons,  herrings,  mackerels,  etc.  Our  little  sunfish 
(see  Fig.  1)  is  a  type.  These  all  have  very  bony  skele- 
tons and  are  called  in  English 

THE  BONY  FISHES. 

They  have  only  one  gill  opening  on  the  outside, 
and  it  has  a  cover  over  it. 

The  next  below  these  are  the  stnrgeonlike  fishes, 
which  usually  have  a  gristly  skeleton  and  many  other 
internal  peculiarities  which  help  to  distinguish  them, 
although  they  shade  off  gradually  into  the  bony  kinds 
and  also  into  the  next  groups  below  them.  Indeed, 
they  are  directly  akin  to  all  the  other  kinds  of  fishes, 
and  for  that  reason  some  regard  them  as  quite  low 
forms.  But  because  they  are  so  very  strikingly  akin 


18 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 


to  the  bony  fishes  we  must  keep  them  next  to  these 
in  our  arrangement.  The  books  call  them  Ganoids,. 
but  we  will  speak  of  them  for  a  while  as 

THE  STURGEON  FORMS.   :' 

A  little  lower  in  some  respects,  a  little  higher  in 
others,  is  a  group  of  peculiar  fishes  that  have  lung- 

A 


FIG.  7. — Nearest  living  allies  of  Devonian  fishes.      .4,  Lepidosireu  ; 
B,  Ceratodus  Fosterii.     x  yia.     (After  Gunther.) 

like  air-bladders  which  are  useful  to  breathe  with  ;  and 
they  have  gills  also.  Besides  this  they  have  very  pe- 
culiar fins  that  are  more  like  legs  than  those  of  any 
other  fishes.  They  are  called 

THE  LUNGFISHES. 

They  also  have  only  one  gill-opening  and  a  cover, 
and  their  skeletons  are  like  the  last  group  in  being 
gristly.  There  are  now  only  three  living  kinds  of 
these  lungfishes,  and  there  are  only  a  comparatively 
few  of  the  sturgeon  forms ;  but  long  ago  these  two 


SHARK  FORMS. 


19 


groups  were  the  chief  fish  of  the  waters  and  among 
the  first  forms,  as  is  shown  now  by  their  fossil  re- 
mains, found  in  the  rocks. 

But  there  is  a  great  group  lower  still,  made  up  of 
the  sharks,  rays,  and  skates,  which  have  more  than 
one  gill-opening  on  each  side — usually  five,  though  it 
may  be  seven  in  some  cases.  These  alone  serve  at 
once  to  distinguish  them  from  all  other  fishes  proper, 
though  there  are  many  other  very  noticeable  things 
about  them  that  are  seen  when  they  are  cut  open. 
They  also  have  a  gristly  skeleton.  We  shall  call  this 
great  group 

THE  SHAEK  FORMS, 

though  all  of  them  do  not  have  the  outward  form  of 
the  usual  shark,  by  any  means,  only  the  general  struc- 
ture ;  but  that  does  not  concern  us  just  now. 


FIG.  8.— The  white  shark  (Carcharhinus  vulgaris). 

Now  these  are  all  of  the  true  fishes,  or  such  as 
you  would  call  fishes  should  you  see  them.  Some  of 
these  even  would  seem  very  "  queer  fish  "  if  you  had 
them  all  before  you. 

But  lower  still  are  two  groups  that  may  be  called 


20 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 


half  fishes  at  any  rate,  since  they  do  not  fit  well  into 
any  other  of  the  great  divisions  of  animals.  They  are 
hardly  anything  else  except  just  themselves.  To  the 
student  they  are  very  interesting,  because  he  thinks 
they  tell  him  much  of  how  a  fish  began  to  be,  or  the 
sort  of  a  creature  a  fish  was  first  made  of  ;  and  since 
we  shall  ourselves  want  to  refer  to  some  of  their  queer 
habits  and  quaint  structure,  we  will  class  them  here 
with  the  rest,  where  their  stringy  backbones,  perhaps 
in  a  general  way,  entitles  them  to  a  place. 
The  highest  of  these  we  will  call 

THE  LAMPREY  FORMS. 

It  includes  the  lampreys  and  the  hagfishes.     They 
have  a  soft  head  upon  the  end  of  the  gristly  back- 


FIG.  9. — Sea  lamprey  (Petromyzon  marhins),  upper.  River  lamprey 
(Lampetra  fliiviatilis],  middle.  Sand  lamprey  (Petromyzon  branchi- 
alis],  lower. 


THE  LANCELET.  21 

bone,  as  if  a  sharp  stick  were  run  into  an  apple. 
They  have  neither  jaws  nor  limbs. 

The  next  and  lowest  thing  that  has  ever  been 
called  a  fish  by  students  has  only  a  jellylike  back- 
bone, no  limbs,  and  no  head  even,  being  so  much 
alike  at  both  ends  that  its  scientific  name  (Amphioxus) 
means  "doubly -sharp."  It  is  in  English  called 

THE  LANCELET, 

by  which  name  we  shall  further  speak  of  it.  It  is 
alone  in  its  group,  though  there  are  below  it  some 
hints  of  slight  kinship  where  the  backbone  may  have 
been  almost  watery  in  consistence  ;  but  we  shall  not 
pursue  the  pedigree  of  the  fishes  any  lower  than  into 
this  headless,  heartless,  eyeless,  earless,  limbless,  crea- 
ture. 

It  is  highly  interesting,  however,  in  all  its  lack  of 
so  much,  since  we  feel  that  it  must  be  very  near  akin 
to,  or  at  least  much  like,  the  forefathers  of  all  the 
Vertebrates. 

Now  let  us  review  a  little  : 

1.  Bony  fishes.         }  TTT-.,       -n 

f  With  gill-openings  single  and 

2.  Sturgeon  forms.  ^     ^^ 

3.  Lungfishes. 

4.  Shark  forms.        >  with     m  ;  and 

5.  Lamprey  forms.        ^J^J 

6.  Laneelets. 

We  shall  find  as  we  go  on  that  these  groups  differ 
from  each  other  in  many  respects,  and  that  there 
are  other  ways  of  grouping  fishes  ;  also  that  there 
are  many  subdivisions  of  these  groups;  but  this  is 


22  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

sufficient  now.  The  bony  fishes  have  the  largest 
number  of  kinds  (species)  in  them,  and  are  by  long 
odds  the  most  important,  since  nearly  all  our  food- 
fishes  are  found  in  them. 


9 

FIG.  10.— The  lancelet,  the  lowest  known  fish-like  form,  m,  mouth  ; 
e,  eye-spot ;  /,  fin ;  r,  rod  or  notoehord,  the  first  faint  indication 
of  a  backbone ;  nv,  nerve  cord ;  </,  gills ;  7t,  hole  out  of  which 
water  passes  from  the  gills  ;  v,  vent  for  refuse  of  food. 

A  fish  is  usually  spoken  of  as  being  divided  into 
three  great  parts— the  head,  the  body,  and  the  tail. 
As  you  can  readily  see,  there  is  no  real  neck,  although 
the  first  two  joints  (vertebrae)  of  the  backbone  which 
are  next  to  the  head  are  without  ribs.  While  that 
part  of  the  body  just  behind  the  head  may,  therefore, 
be  bent  slightly  sidewise,  there  are  only  a  few  fishes, 
perhaps,  that  can  bend  their  heads  upward  much 
while  the  body  rests  on  a  flat  surface.  The  garpike  is 
said  to  be  one  of  these,  and  the  limber  eels  can  lift 
the  head  high  as  a  snake.  The  pipefishes  also— 
notably  the  sea-horse — seem  to  be  able  to  give  their 
necks  a  swanlike  curve. 

Our  little  sunfish  is  of  that  shape  of  body  which, 
being  deeper  than  wide  (or  thick),  shows  that  it  is 
not  well  fitted  for  resting  on  the  bottom  unless  it  lies 
upon  its  side.  It  is  a  shape  that  shows  the  fish  to  be 
a  swimmer  in  the  mid-water  between  the  surface  and 


HABITS  OF  FISH  AFFECT  THEIR  SHAPES.      23 

the  bottom  (see  Fig.  1  on  page  2).  But  some  tishes 
that  were  thus  shaped  once  seemed  to  have  tired  of 
this  position  and  began  lying  on  their  sides,  and  thus 
got  flatter  still  by  the  habit.  Such  are  the  flounders 
and  others. 

We  can  often  see  that  the  shape  of  the  fish  is  in 
some  way  connected  with  its  habits.  In  many  cases, 
however,  this  is  not  so  clear. 

Some  of  the  shapes  now  seen  may  be  connected 
with  habits  that  the  fish  has  given  up.  Sometimes 
the  same  shape  may  have  suited  both  the  old  habits 
and  the  new  ones.  This  is  the  case  with  the  flounder 
and  his  kinsfolk.  Doubtless  they  found  that  by  lying 
on  one  side  they  had  not  to  work  to  keep  up  edge- 
wise, and  that  they  were  thus  hidden  both  from  their 
foes  and  their  prey.  The  latter  swam  near  them  be- 
cause of  this  concealment,  and  were  gulped  down 
without  pursuit.  A  lazy  life  ever  after  was  the 
result. 

It  is  a  law  of  Nature  that  she  makes  every  animal 
as  comfortable  as  she  can  wherever  it  takes  up  its 
abode.  It  is  a  law  of  love  which  runs  all  through  life 
that,  all  things  considered,  any  material  that  a  creature 
has  about  it  is  fitted  as  well  as  it  can  be  to  the  sur- 
roundings, if  it  stays  in  any  one  place  long  enough. 

It  is  well  that  the  reader  remember  this,  for  the 
various  parts  of  a  fish  acquire  much  greater  interest  if 
we  look  at  them  in  this  light.  In  these  flat  fishes  the 
eye  on  the  under  side  has  been  pulled  around  upon 
the  upper,  so  that  the  creature  may  use  them  both  if 
it  is  going  to  lie  this  way,  and  we  shall  find  later  that 


FIG.  11. — Flatfish.  Plaice  (Phitessa  glabra),  three  upper  fish.  Four-spotted 
flounder  or  turbot  (Platessa  oUonya],  fish  at  the  left  and  the  two 
buried  in  the  sand.  Spotted  flounder  (Pleuronectes  mncidaiuK],  fish  at 
lower  right  of  illustration . 


NORMAL  FORM  OF  FISH.  25 

many  other  things  have  been  done  for  this  fish  and 
others  because  of  their  special  habits. 


. 

FIG.  12. — Salt-water  sun  fish  (Orthagoriscus  mola),  background  ;  young 
of  same,  foreground. 

Perhaps  about  the  right  or  normal  form  (that  is, 
a  form  that  is  not  distorted)  for  a  fish  is  that  of  a  her- 
ring, to  mention  a  familiar  example.  Here  the  body 
is  a  little  deeper  than  wide,  with  a  beautiful,  graceful 
taper  either  way.  But  the  shape  of  fishes  generally 


26  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

ranges  on  eacli  side  of  this.  The  fierasferidae  (see  Fig. 
18  on  page  36),  ribbon-fishes,  etc.,  are  mere  straps  and 
strings,  and  the  headfish  and  hair-fin  and  others  are 
really  wider  than  long.  The  chubs,  shiners,  minnows, 
salmon,  trout,  perch,  etc.,  are  not  far  from  what  we 
may  call  the  usual  (or  typical)  form.  Others  whose 
forms  differ  strikingly  from  these  by  the  peculiar 
shape  of  any  parts  will  be  noticed  further  on. 

As  a  rule,  if  a  fish  appears  at  all  flat  upon  the 
under  side,  no  matter  what  its  shape  above,  we  may 
infer  that  at  some  time  it  either  rests  on  the  bottom 
or  swims  near  it  as  a  trout  and  our  common  catfish  ; 
and  if  it  be  flat  on  top,  also,  we  may  feel  sure  that  it 
lives  there  most  of  the  time,  as  the  rays  and  flatfish 
noted.  We  shall  see  later  that  color  of  the  body, 
the  kind  of  fins  and  their  position,  and  many  other 
things,  have  much  to  tell  us  also  of  where  a  fish 
stays. 

In  the  usual  fish  the  body,  although  it  may  bend 
to  a  limited  degree,  is  more  or  less  stiff,  and  it  can 
be  made  quite  rigid ;  but  in  the  eels,  cusks,  gunnels, 
and  others  like  them,  the  snakelike  body  may  be  tied 
into  knots. 

To  begin  in  the  middle,  there  is  perhaps  nothing 
more  responsible  for  the  shape  of  many  fishes  than 
their  stomachs.  That  of  the  shad  has  become  typical, 
and  is  referred  to  as  a  proverb.  We  know  what  is 
meant  at  once  when  we  liken  anything,  rather  unre- 
finedly,  to  the  outside  shape  of  a  shad's  stomach. 
The  gentle  curve  of  the  "  cut-away  "  coat  was  for- 
merly always  so  spoken  of — a  reference  in  the  old  co- 


THE  HEADS  OF   FISHES.  27 

lonial  days  to  the  shape  of  the  under  side  of  one  of 
their  most  familiar  fishes. 

But  the  stomach  affects  the  shape  not  so  much  by 
its  own  form  as  by  the  quantity  or  kind  of  the  food 
it  has  in  it.  Likewise  the  amount  of  eggs  a  fish  is 
carrying  affects  its  lower  outline. 

Fishes  owe  their  shape  in  a  large  degree  to  the 
form  and  size  of  their  heads,  perhaps  much  more 
remarkably  than  do  any  other  creatures.  In  a  few 


Fift.  13. — Hammerhead  shark,  under  part  of  head  showing  mouth. 

instances  the  head  is  larger  than  the  body,  and  the 
tail  seems  to  be  attached  almost  directly  to  it.  Thus 
in  the  angler  or  fishing-frog  and  its  kin,  and  in  some 
catfishes,  the  head  is  large  and  flat,  with  the  body  de- 
creasing directly  from  this  backward  without  any 
swell  except  that  caused  by  a  full  stomach.  Such 
fish  can  not  be  designed  for  much  speed  in  swimming. 
But  in  others  the  head  is  immense  and  almost 
without  any  tail,  and  apparently  without  any  body. 
Such  are  the  so-called  headfishes  of  the  sea,  some  of 
which  are  called  sunfish,  some  moonfish.  To  prevent 


28  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

confusion  with  our  little  sunfish,  we  shall  speak  of 
these  as  headfishes.  Here  the  fish  is  flattened  (com- 
pressed) vertically,  as  is  our  fresh -water  sunfish,  with 
the  head  shaped  for  cleaving  the  water,  and  yet  hav- 
ing the  tail,  and  even  part  of  the  body,  apparently 
wanting  or  much  shortened.  Further  mention  of  the 
head  will  come  up  later. 


FIG.  14. — Moonfish  or  spadefish  (Choetodipterus  faber). 


There  are,  of  course,  other  objects  about  the  head 
which  affect  the  shape  of  the  fish.  In  the  hammer- 
head shark  the  eyes  are  set  out  on  great,  thick,  fleshy 
stalks  which  make  the  head  hammer-shaped  and  give 
the  fish  a  very  peculiar  form  (see  Fig.  13,  page  27). 

So  likewise  the  jaws,  as  in  the  swordfish  and  saw- 
fish, extend  the  form  of  the  fish  far  forward. 


TALK   IV. 

TTo\v  a  fish  is  fixed  for  going  in  a  straight  line  and  for  getting 
along  in  life ;  or  the  unpaired  vertical  fins  and  the  tail. 

ANOTHER  most  striking  thing  about  a  fish's  figure 
is  its  fins.  While  in  the  average  fish  these  are  fastened 
to  the  body  here  and  there  as  little  fans,  there  are 
cases  where  they  are  greatly  lengthened  or  expanded, 
and  extended  so  far  forward  or  around  the  body  as  to 
form  the  outer  edge  of  the  whole  shape.  Such  is  the 
case  in  the  rays,  flatfish,  and  others.  In  some  rays 
even  a  snout  is  given  to  the  fish  by  the  fins  pointing 
out  beyond  the  head.  In  these  cases  the  form  of  the 
body  proper  does  not  show  unless  the  creature  be 
turned  over.  More  of  this  will  appear  later,  when  we 
talk  of  these  fins  as  a  topic. 

The  tail  also  affects  the  shape  of  the  fish  largely, 
since  it  terminates  the  body  after  the  head  begins  it. 
It  usually  ends  in  a  fin  attached  to  it  or  grown  around 
it.  We  may  really  call  all  that  part  of  a  fish  that  is 
behind  the  internal  cavity  its  tail,  but  the  tail-fen  is 
another  matter. 

In  our  little  sunfish  we  can  see  how  beautifully 
the  tail  tapers  off  from  the  body  (see  Fig.  1  on  page 
2).  This  is  the  usual  or  normal  use  of  it  as  a  shap- 
ing member.  In  most  cases  the  tail  is  flattened  ver- 

29 


30  THE  STORY   OP  THE   FISHES. 


FIG.  15. — Threadfish  or  cutlass  fish  (  Trichiurus  lepturus),  background. 
Hair-fin  (Argyreiosus  capillaris),  foreground  of  upper  illustration. 
Tail  of  sulphur-bottom  whale,  showing  horizontal  spread  of  tail, 
lower  illustration. 

tically — that  is,  up  and  down  as  a  board  fence  stands, 
and  not  horizontally,  as  a  plank  may  lie  on  any  sur- 
face. The  tails  of  whales  and  their  kinsfolk  are  flat- 
tened horizontally,  but  no  fish  has  its  tail  so  placed 


TAILS  OF  FISHES.  31 

(see  Fig.  15,  page  30).  The  tails  of  flatfishes  lie  flat  on 
the  bottom  and  are  used  flatwise,  but  this  is  because, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  fish  lies  and  swims  upon  its  side. 

But  all  fishes  do  not  have  their  tails  flat  in  any 
way.  Thus  the  rays  and  skates  have  a  round  tail, 
almost  like  that  of  a  rat,  having  scarcely  a  hint  of  a 
fin  anywhere  about  it.  Others  have  them  flattened, 
but  tapered  off  as  very  long,  thin,  and  ribbonlike,  as 
in  the  eels  and  band-fishes,  and  others  still  have  the 
tail  thin  out  into  a  long  whiplike  filament,  almost  as 
if  the  fish  were  only  a  handle  and  the  tail  a  lash. 
Such  are  the  hair-tail,  the  cutlass  fish,  and  some  of 
the  pipefishes  (see  Fig.  15,  page  30).  These  last  styles 
may  give  the  fish  a  very  snakelike  appearance,  as  seen 
in  the  eels  and  others. 

On  the  other  extreme,  the  tail  may  appear  as  if 
fastened  to  the  body  by  means  of  a  stem,  a  hint  of 
which  is  seen  in  our  sunfish ;  but  it  comes  out  most 
gracefully  in  the  mackerels  and  their  relatives,  where 
the  stem  is  very  slender.  In  the  hair-fin  it  reminds 
one  of  the  wasp's  waist,  not  being  one  twelfth  so  wide 
as  the  body  (see  Fig.  15,  page  30). 

Finally,  the  tail,  like  the  boy's  pins  which  he  said 
had  saved  the  lives  of  so  many  persons  "  by  they's  not 
swallerin'  'em,"  can  strikingly  affect  the  shape  of  the 
fish  by  not  being  present  or  scarcely  present,  as  in 
the  headfish  noted. 

While  we  are  on  this  topic  we  had  as  well  talk  of 
the  tail's  use  as  a  fin — the  great  pusher  or  propeller. 
The  other  fins  are  used  to  move  with  also,  but  not 
nearly  so  much  as  the  tail-fin.  Eeally,  the  tail  proper 


32 


THE  STOEY   OF  THE  FISHES. 


is  that  part  of  the  fish  that  lies  back  of  the  body  cav- 
ity ;  and  it  is  formed  around  the  bony  or  gristly  end 
of  the  spinal  column.  This  latter  has  some  interest- 
ing things  about  it  which  we  shall  note  under  BONES 
or  SKELETON.  But  we  often  speak  of  the  filmy  fan 
on  the  end  of  the  fish  as  the  tail,  whereas  we  should 
call  it  simply  the  tail-fin.  Students  say  "caudal  fin," 
which  is  the  same  thing. 


* 


-1  OR  FRONT  .. 

0 


4/$  " v  .PAIRED  FINS 

FIG.  16. — The  external  parts  of  a  fish,  fins,  etc. 

It  is  likely  that  this  was  the  first  fin  that  the  early 
fishes  had,  since  we  find  those  very  low  fish-forms, 
lampreys  and  lancelets,  have  only  a  vertical  filmy 
fringe  around  the  rear  end  of  their  wormlike  bodies. 

Now  let  us  put  here  the  picture  of  a  fish  and  learn 
the  names  of  the  fins,  because  it  is  very  important 
that  we  should  know  them  by  name. 

The  tail-fin,  the  dorsal  fin,  and  the  anal  fin  are 
called  the  vertical  fins  because  they  all  point  verti- 
cally (directly  up  or  down)  in  the  middle  line  of  the 


PARTS  OF  A  FISH.  33 

fish.  Remember  that.  They  are  also  called  the  un- 
paired fins,  because  the  next  we  are  going  to  mention 
grow  in  pairs.  Two  of  these,  one  on  each  side  oppo- 
site each  other,  are  called  ventral  fins.  They  are  usu- 
ally low  down  on  the  body.  Those  on  each  side  are 
called  the  pectoral  fins,  and  are  nearly  always  up  on 
the  side  somewhere  near  the  gills. 

The  gill-opening  is  just  in  front  of  these  in  our 
cut.  The  gills  are  inside  of  this,  under  the  flat  gill- 
cover. 

Now  we  know  the  outside  parts  of  a  fish  so  that 
we  can  talk  about  them.  If  we  call  the  tail-fin  "  the 
caudal,"  the  order  is — in  the  fish  here  shown :  caudal, 
anal,  dorsal,  ventrals,  pectorals,  and  the  gills.  The 
dorsal  is  the  only  one  on  top.  We  shall  see  as  we 
talk  about  them  that  their  position  and  shape  vary 
much  in  different  fishes,  as  a  glance  again  at  our 
sunfish  will  show  (Fig.  1,  page  2).  Note  that  the 
ventrals  have  moved  forward  under  the  pectorals. 
We  shall  talk  about  them  all  in  their  order. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  some  fishes  the  tail  is 
gracefully  forked  and  in  others  nicely  rounded.  All 
grades  and  extremes  lie  around  and  between  these 
two  forms.  In  the  low  fishes  the  tails  are  usually 
forked,  but  very  seldom,  if  ever,  evenly  as  in  our 
herring.  Usually,  when  the  fin  is  present  in  the 
shark  forms  and  sturgeon  forms,  the  upper  lobe  is 
the  longer.  An  extravagant  instance  is  shown  in 
the  fox  shark  or  thresher.  In  all  fishes,  as  noted,  the 
bone  of  the  tail  is  bent  up  at  the  rear,  though  it  is  not 
very  apparent  in  the  bony  fishes.  The  equal-shaped 


34  THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

tail-fin   is   therefore    a    recent  and   more   perfected 
form. 

As  we  have  seen,  this  fin  on  the  tail  is  wanting  in 
some  fishes.  Thus,  in  order  that  the  sting-ray  and 
others  may  more  forcibly  strike  the  spines  on  the  tail 
into  an  enemy,  all  hindering  fringes  are  left  off  of  it. 

So  the  tail  of  the  sea-horse  is  slim  and  capable  of 
being  twisted  around  seaweed,  roots,  etc.,  at  the  bot- 
tom, thus  anchoring  the  creature  against  strong  cur- 
rents and  tides.  It  has  poor  swimming  powers,  and 
.  might  otherwise  be  easily  washed  away. 
y  In  general,  the  forking  of  the  tail  is  connected 
with  fishes  that  are  rapid  swimmers,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  herrings,  mackerels,  and  their  kinsfolk,  where 
everything  seems  to  indicate  speed  and  endurance. 
Very  often  the  tail-fin  is  square,  or  it  may  be  even 
pointed  or  diamond-shaped,  as  in  the  turbot. 

The  tail -fin    has  therefore   been   much  changed, 
^  doubtless  according  to  the  needs  of  the  fish,  but  we 
can  not  always  see  the  purpose. 

OTHER  VERTICAL  FINS. 

In  their  lowest  form  the  dorsal  and  the  anal  (fins) 

^*are  very  closely  connected  with  the  tail-fin.     As  we 

have  seen,  they  perhaps  grow  with  it  as  one  continuous 

fringe  around  the  whole  rear  part  of  the  fish.    In  very 

little  fish  just  hatching  they  are  joined  to  it  for  a 

while,  and  only  later  break  up  into  separate  fins.     We 

shall  see,  further  on,  that  this  hints  that  at  an  early 

/^•period  of  the  fishes'  history  the  fins  were  this  way  all 

&*     the  time,  as  they  are  yet  in  the  low  forms.     They  be- 


ORIGIN  OF   FINS. 


35 


gan  likely  (we  learn  in  the  same  way  from  the  hatch- 
ing fish)  as  mere  folds  of  the  skin,  and  did  not  have 
any  little  gristly  threads  (rays)  or  bony  pins  (spines) 
in  them,  as  we  see  in  those  of  the  sunfish  and  others 


B 


FIG.  17.— The  origin  of  fins.  A,  showing  the  unborn  fish,  and  proba- 
bly its  first  state,  with  one  unbroken  and  continuous  fin  ;  B,  show- 
ing the  two  dorsals,  the  caudal  and  anal  unpaired  fins,  and  the 
pectoral  and  pelvic  paired  fins.  (After  Weidersheim. ) 

now.  They  are  found  so  yet  in  some  very  low  forms 
known  as  the  fringe-finned  fishes. 

These  vertical  or  unpaired  fins  are  very  interest- 
ing because  of  their  great  variation  in  size,  extent 
along  the  body,  and  their  many  divisions  and  peculiar 
shapes  and  uses.  They  are  very  helpful  in  describing 
a  fish  and  in  distinguishing  some  groups  or  families. 

They  may  be  of  nearly  the  same  length,  as  in  our 
sunfish,  and  almost  opposite  each  other,  or  they  may 
differ  in  both  length  and  position,  as  in  the  herring. 
They  may,  as  here,  also  be  far  forward  from  the  tail, 
or  merged  almost  into  it,  as  in  the  turbot,  and  en- 
tirely into  it  in  others.  In  the  turbot,  the  sand  cusk, 
and  other  flatfishes  they  tend  to  run  almost  all  around 
the  body. 


36 


THE   STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 


To  begin  with  the  dorsal,  it  may  run  the  whole 
length  from  head  to  tail,  as  in  the  sand  cusk,  or  it  may 
be  short  and  of  only  a  few  rays,  as  in  the  catfish  (see 
Fig.  1),  or  it  may  be  absent  altogether.  It  is  often 
formed  into  two  separate  or  at  least  very  different 
parts,  frequently  into  three,  as  in  the  codfish  family, 
and  occasionally  it  may  have  a  host  of  little  divisions 
near  the  tail,  as  in  the  mackerel  family.  In  this  case 
they  have  rays  in  them  and  are  called  finlets  /  but  in 
the  salmon  forms,  catfish  family,  and  others  there  may 
be  a  single  little  fin  without  rays,  formed  mostly  of 
fat.  They  are  called  "  fat-fins." 


FIG.  18. — The  sand  cusk  (  Ophidum  marginatum),  upper.  Fierasferidse 
(Enchelioplus  tennis)  ;  a  fish  is  shown  with  head  projecting  from 
the  sea-cucumber  or  holothurian,  inside  of  which  these  fishes  live. 

But  the  most  important  division  of  this  dorsal  fin 
is  that,  in  the  highest  fishes,  the  forward  part  tends 
to  have  its  rays  changed  into  hard  bony  spines,  while 


THE   DORSAL  FIN. 


the  rear  part  may  remain  soft-rayed.     These  two  parts 
may  be  widely  separated,  as  in  the  mullets  (see  Figx"" 
19,  page  37),  or  join  each  other,  as  in  the  sunfish,  or 


FIG.  19. — Horned  dogfish  (Rqualus  acanthius),  showing  spine  on  dorsal 
fin,  upper.  The  mullet  (Mugil  brasiliensis) ,  middle.  Mackerel 
shark  (Lamna  cornubica),  showing  unequal  lobes  of  tail,  lower. 

the  whole  dorsal  may  rarely  be  spiny.      Sometimes ^ 
the  film   is  wanting  in  front,  and  the  spines  exist 
alone,  as  in  some  sticklebacks. 

Another  very  peculiar  change  is  that  of  making  a 
sucking  disk  out  of  the  spiny  part  of  the  dorsal, 
by  the  remora  clings  to  sharks  and  others  and  gets  a 
free  ride  all  the  time. 

The  anal  fin  also  tends, in  the  higher  groups,  to  be 
wholly  or  partially  spiny.  As  in  the  other  case,  it 
is  always  in  the  forward  part  that  the  spines  are  thick- 


38  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

est  and  strongest.  Many  Jow  fishes  also  tend  to  have 
one  or  two  spines  on  the  forward  edge  of  the  fins. 
This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  dorsal  fins  of  the 
sharks,  where  one  or  two  of  the  great  spines  are  usu- 
ally so  noticeable  as  the  fish  approaches  (see  Fig.  19, 
page  37). 

The  anal  often  extends  far  forward  also,  but  not 
so  far  as  the  dorsal.  It  is  always  limited  by  the  body 
cavity.  In  many  fishes,  as  the  bluefish,  the  two  ap- 
pear equal,  making  a  pretty  appearance.  In  the  head- 
fishes  this  is  especially  noticeable  (see  moonfish,  Fig. 
14,  on  page  28). 

Likewise  the  anal  may  be  divided  into  more  than 
one  portion,  and  have  finlets  behind  it,  as  in  the 
mackerels.  If  small,  it  is  usually  farther  back  than 
the  dorsal,  and  it  is  often  smaller  and  more  frequently 
wanting.  Rarely,  as  in  the  European  bream,  is  it 
larger  (Fig.  90,  page  235). 


TALK  Y. 

How  a  fish  poses  and  keeps  its  head  and  back  up ;  or  the  paired 
fins  and  their  uses,  location,  etc. 

WE  now  come  to  the  paired  fins.  We  will  note 
again  that  those  two  which  are  either  far  back  or  low 
down  are  called  ventral s,  while  the  pair  that  is  always 
far  forward  and  usually  well  up  on  the  sides  near  the 
head  are  called  pectorals.  When  the  pectorals  and 
ventrals  are  very  near  each  other,  the  latter  are  always 
the  lower.  These  four  fins  stand  in  the  places  of  the 
limbs  of  the  "  four-footed  beasts  " — that  is,  they  cor- 
respond to  or  represent  them.  The  fish,  however, 
uses  them  to  swim  with  usually,  though,  as  we  shall 
see,  there  are  a  few  that  really  walk  by  their  aid. 
No  parts  of  the  creature  are  more  readily  changed  in 
shape  or  shifted  in  location  upon  the  body  to  suit  the 
demands  of  habit  than  are  these.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  ventrals,  which  are  really  the  hind  legs. 
In  all  the  low  fishes — shark  forms,  sturgeon  forms, 
and  lungfishes — these  are  found  far  back  on  the  body, 
and  in  the  lowest  of  the  bony  fishes  they  are  thus 
placed ;  but  they  gradually  move  forward,  as  a  rule, 
as  the  fishes  appear  higher  in  the  scale.  They  never 
pass  behind  the  body  cavity,  but  may  go  forward  to 
the  throat,  even  getting  in  front  of  the  pectorals  as 

39 


40  THE  STOEY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

in  the  great  weever.  In  this  case  the  length  of  the 
anal  seems  to  have  crowded  them  forward,  for  they 
are  never  found  behind  this,  since  it  is  always  behind 
the  rear  opening  of  the  body  cavity,  which  may  some- 
times be  under  the  throat  also. 

In  many  fishes  the  ventrals  are  quite  small,  even 
when  the  others  are  large,  and  they  are  perhaps  more 
frequently  absent  than  any  others.  This  is  especially 
apt  to  be  the  case  with  all  the  eel-shaped  or  long  snake- 
like  fishes  that  wiggle  in  the  mud,  and  with  ma  My 
others  that  lie  on  the  bottom  where  these  fins  woi:id 
probably  be  in  the  way.  In  some  that  float  stomach  up- 
ward they  are  also  gone — perhaps  because  they  are  un- 
less. But  in  some  others,  as  the  swordfish,  which  swim 
in  mid-water,  we  can  not  see  why  they  are  now  absenr. 

In  other  cases,  as  the  codfish  family,  the  ventral,, 
usually  when  far  forward,  are  reduced  to  a  few  rays, 
perhaps  only  one.  These  then  become  stringlike  and 
act  only  as  "  feelers."  In  this  case  also  the  fish  is 
apt  to  be  a  bottom-feeder.  A  remarkable  example 
is  the  forkbeard,  where  they  are  usually  lengthened 
(Fig.  37). 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  peculiar  uses  of  the 
ventrals  is  that  of  being  situated  close  together  on  the 
under  side  near  the  tail,  as  in  the  gobies,  and  forming 
a  sort  of  sucking  disk  by  which  the  fish  clings  to 
rocks  when  it  wishes  to  be  quiet.  Sometimes  when 
far  forward  the  whole  shape  seems  changed  into 
something  much  like  that  of  a  foot  or  clinging  or 
grasping  member,  as  in  the  little  mousefish,  which 
thus  crawls  among  floating  seaweed  to  hide  (Fig.  38). 


PECTORAL  FINS.  41 

When   they   are   behind   the  gills,  these  fins  are 
attached  to  the  flesh  only,  but  when  farther  forward\ 
they  may  have  a  bony  connection  with  the  head. 

Pectorals  correspond  to  the  forelegs  of  beasts,  but 
in  nearly  all  cases  they  are  well  up — always  rather  on 
the  sides  of  the  body.  In  most  cases  they  are  behind 
the  gills ;  but  in  that  curious  section  which  contains 
the  batfishes,  frogfishes,  and  anglers,  the  gill-open- 
ings seem  to  have  crept  backward,  and  they  open 
behind  the  fin  as  if  in  the  hollow  of  the  arm.  Some 
pectorals,  however,  are  low  enough  down  to  act  as 
props  to  keep  the  (rather  round-bottomed)  fish  up- 
right when  it  wishes  to  lie  on  the  bottom  of  a  stream 
a  while  to  watch  for  prey.  This  is  the  case  with 
the  salmon,  trouts,  etc.,  where  the  ventrals  are  like- 
wise well  spread  apart  and  usually  far  back.  In  \ 
perhaps  all  cases  where  the  ventrals  are  far  forward 
the  pectorals  are  well  up,  and  in  few  cases  are  these 
kinds  of  fishes  bottom-haunters ;  but  if  they  are  such, 
the  ventrals,  as  in  the  codfishes,  act  merely  as  feelers. 

To  show  how  hard  it  is  to  hold  Nature  down  to  a 
fast  and  fixed  rule,  we  will  notice  that  in  some  in- 
stances the  ventrals  remain  large  and  the  pectorals 
have  about  three  of  their  front  rays  separated  en- 
tirely from  the  rest  of  the  fin  and  converted  into 
feelers,  which  appear  much  like  the  feet  of  insects. 
With  these  they  seem  to  crawl  or  pull  themselves 
along  on  or  near  the  bottom,  while  the  body  appears 
perfectly  poised  in  the  water.  It  is  known  that  such 
fish  are  really  feeling  their  way  along  rather  than 
crawling.  Almost  any  public  aquarium  has  in  it  an 


FIG.  20. — Sea-robin  (Prionotus  lineatus),  central  picture.  Climbing 
perch  (Anabas  scandens),  lower  figure.  Tbe  illustration  in  the 
background  shows  the  climbing  fish  ascending  a  palm  tree. 


PECTORAL   FINS  USED  IN   WALKING. 


43 


example  of  the  beautiful  sea-robin  which  may  be  fre- 
quently seen  thus  feeling  the  bottom  (see  Fig.  20, 
page  42). 

In  the  frogfishes  and  their  kin  these  fins  appear 
to  be  fastened  to  the  body  by  a  kind  of  stem,  espe- 
cially noticeable  in  the  batfish ;  the  fish  crawls  about 
with  them  (see  Fig.  23,  page  47).  In  many  cases, 
where  the  pectorals  are  of  the  usual  shape,  they  may 


FIG.  21. — Mud  skippers  (Periophthalmus  Icoelreuteri). 

be  stiff  and  spiny  and  project  downward  so  that  the 
fish  may  not  only  walk  clumsily  by  them,  but  actually 
leap  on  dry  land  and  escape  threatened  danger  by, 
their  aid.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  mud  skippers  (see 
Fig.  21)  and  in  the  climbing  perch,  which  latter  is 
said  to  climb  trees  by  the  aid  of  these  and  the  simi'- 
larly  spiny  ventrals  (see  Fig.  20,  page  42). 

'5    y 


44  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  pectorals  may  point  rather 
upward.  The  reason  for  this  can  not  always  be  known 
unless  a  close  study  of  the  habits  are  made ;  but  in  the 
flying  fish  this,  combined  with  their  pointed  shape  and 
great  size,  fits  them  to  act  as  do  kites,  to  bear  the  fish 
v' along  for  a  time.  Here  they  are  like  the  wings  of 
some  insects,  and  are  set  much  as  those  of  a  hawk 
when  they  are  partially  closed  in  the  act  of  darting 
down  on  prey.  In  these  cases  the  long  tips  of  the 
fins  reach  almost  to  the  tail.  These  pectoral  fins  are 
the  longest,  in  comparison  with  the  length  of  the 
body,  of  any  known  (see  Fig.  25,  page  49). 

The  pectorals  are  widest,  and  extend  farthest  for- 
ward in  the  rays,  and  skates,  and  angel  fish,  where 
they  flatten  out  and  are  carried  up  over  the  whole 
body  as  a  sort  of  fleshy  or  leathery  cloak  or  cover ; 
and  they  are  spread  away  out — really  giving  the  en- 
tire shape  to  the  fish  as  viewed  from  above — even 
beyond  its  head  (see  Fig.  26,  page  51). 

From  these  unusual  sizes  and  forms,  the  pectorals 
run  down  to  a  few  rays,  making  a  very  narrow  fin. 
Usually  the  shape  is  that  of  a  rounded  fan,  or  it  may 
be  pointed — in  a  few  cases  forked  a  little.  Large 
ectorals  do  not  seem  associated  with  speed,  since 
on  the  swiftest  swimmers,  as  mackerels,  herring,  sal- 
mon, etc.,  they  are  very  small,  and  are  folded  back 
against  the  body  when  the  fish  is  going  fast.  After 
the  tail  fin,  the  pectorals  are  the  most  important.  If 
a  fish  begins  to  lose  fins  from  any  cause,  these  are 
the  last  to  go — except  the  tail -fin — as  we  may  see  in 
eels  and  other  rather  degraded  forms.  In  no  true 


FINS  USED  IK  PROGRESSION.  45 

fish  are  they  wholly  wanting  perhaps,  but  in  the  lam- 
preys and  hagfishes  they  are  either  lost  or  have  never 
grown. 

The  tail -fin  is  the  great  pusher  or  propeller,  act-^ 
ing  as  a  single  sculling  oar.  It  has  the  rays  which 
support  the  filmy  part  so  attached  that  they  may  bend 
back  as  the  tail  swings  around  forward,  but  be  held 
stiffly,  resisting  as  the  strong  stroke  is  made  the  other 
way.  The  wiggling  which  is  a  part  of  these  strokes 
helps  also  to  push  the  fish  forward.  Snakes  swim 
fairly  well  without  any  flattened  tail  or  fringe  at  all. 

Of  course,  especially  in  slow  movements,  the  paired 
fins  help,  and  in  the  head  fish,  where  the  tail  is  nearly 
gone,  and  in  those  where  it  is  not  fringed  at  all,  these 
fins  do  the  work  when  they  are  present.  This  is  the 
case  in  the  rays.  Here  these  fins  move  much  as  the 
wings  of  a  bat,  but  usually  in  the  other  fishes  they  are 
flapped  more  directly  backward.  At  times  their  mo- 
tion is  very  rapid. 

But  these  fins  are  used  more  in  turning,  stop- , 
ping,  and  elevating  the   body — especially  the  front 
.end  of  it — than  they  are  in  propelling.     In  a  similar 
way  the  ventrals  may  be  used. 

Besides  the  tail -fin,  the  other  two  vertical  fins — 
the  dorsal  and  anal — may  aid  a  little  in  pushing.  In- 
deed, in  many  fishes  they  are  so  far  to  the  rear  that 
they  -may  be  moved  with  the  tail  as  it  moves  its  own 
fringe.  But  aside  from  this  they  are  known  (in  very 
slow -moving  fishes)  to  help  push  by  a  peculiar  wavy 
motion  of  the  edges,  beginning  at  the  front  and  run- 
ning back  (see  Fig.  22,  page  46). 


46  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

You  can  see  that  as  the  curve  C,  beginning  at  A, 
moves  backward  to  B,  it  tends  to  push  against  the 
water,  and  thrust  the  fish  forward  to  the  left.  In 
the  flat  fishes  these  fins  act  in  this  way  partly,  but 
the  tail  helps  also.  In  the  little  sea  horse,  however, 
this  is  the  chief  method  of  moving  along,  together 


FIG.  22.— The  motions  of  the  dorsal  fin. 

with  a  little  flapping  of  the  pectorals  (see  Fig.  24, 
page  48).  As  these  little  fishes  pass  each  other  they 
sometimes  reach  out  and  link  their  slim,  curling  tails 
together  in  a  sort  of  greeting,  not  unlike  our  hand- 
shake. The  tail  is  thus  reserved  for  anchoring  and 

, .     social  purposes  solely. 

The  thin  edges  of  the  pectoral  fins,  also  the 
rays,  help  them  along  in  this  waving  way.  Likewise 
these  waves  may  at  times  be  seen  running  up  and 
down  the  straight  edges  of  the  tail-fin  in  some  ordi- 
nary fishes, when  they  desire  only  a  slight  motion. 

But  the  chief  use  in  all  fins,  except  that  on  the 
tail  or  those  moved  by  it,  is  to  poise  or  balance  the 
ody  properly  and  to  direct  or  guide  it.     Thus  the 
solid  and  heavier  parts  containing  most  of  the  muscles 
being  so  near  the  top,  the  back  of  a  deep-bodied  fish 


FIG.  23.— Batfish  (Malthe). 


4:8 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   FISHES. 


tends  to  turn  it  over  on  its  side,  but  the  paired  fins 
prevent  this ;  and  when  the  tail  is  making  great  lashes 
for  speed  the  body  tends  to  wigwag,  and  this  is  re- 
sisted by  the  dorsal  and  ventral.  They  act  very  much 
as  do  the  feathers  upon  an  arrow. 

It  is  said  that  the  cruel  experiment  has  been  tried 
of  cutting  off  the  body-fins.     If  the  paired  fins  are 


-/ 


FIG.  24. — American  sea 
horse  ( Hippocamp  us 
h&dfonius).  Young 
escaping  from  the 
pouch  of  male,  low- 
er figure.  Austra- 
lian sea  horse  ( Phyl- 
lopteryx  eques),  up- 
per illustration. 


both  cut  off  on  one  side  the  fish  falls  over  in  the 
opposite  direction.  If  all  are  cut  off  it  floats  as  a 
dead  fish,  being  unable  to  go  under  the  water.  If 
only  the  dorsal  and  anal  are  removed  it  swims  in  zig- 


USE   OF  VENTRALS. 


49 


zag.     If  the  pectorals  be  cut  off  the  head  hangs  down 
and  the  fish  can  not  swim  to  the  surface. 

A  fish  whose  ventral s  are  set  far  back  may  get 
along  fairly  well  without  them ;  but  when  they  are  far 
forward  under  a  large  head  and  (what  appears  as)  heavy 
shoulders,  as  in  our  sunfish  and  others,  they  as  well 
as  the  pectorals  would,  if  absent,  be  much  missed.  It 
is  likely  that  they  are  set  thus  forward, in  some  cases, 
to  aid  the  pectorals  in  helping  a  fish  to  hold  up  its  head. 


FIG.    25.  —Flying  fish   (Exccetus  volitans),   upper.     Flying  gurnards 
( Dactylopte rus  volitans),  lower. 

The  position  of  the  ventrals  well  forward  seems  to 
be  associated  often  with  the  presence  of  strong  sharp 
spines  in  the  front  part  of  the  dorsal  fin.  Since  these  \ 
dorsal  spines  are  used  as  weapons,  as  one  fish  darts  under 
the  other,  the  ventrals  may  be  so  placed  that  they  may 
aid  the  pectorals  in  bearing  upward  forcibly, so  as  to 
saw  harder  on  the  enemy's  thin  and  tender  under  parts. 


TALK  VI. 

How  a  fish  uses  threads  and  needles,  and  may  wear  patchwork  as 
a  garment  and  armor;  or  rays,  spines,  scales,  and  skin. 

WHILE  we  have  spoken  of  the  shape,  location, 
and  uses  of  the  fins,  we  have  neglected  their  structure 
and  growth.  In  the  usual  fin  we  find  either  soft, 
threadlike  little  gristles  running  through  them,  or  else 
there  are  hony  spines  or  needles  supporting  them. 
The  first  of  these  are  called  rays,  and  the  second 
spines. 

It  is  not  hard  to  see  that  a  spine  is  a  ray  that  has 
become  hony.  From  this  we  are  inclined  to  feel  that 
rays  were  formed  first,  and  that  later  spines  were 
made  from  them.  Naturalists  say  that  fins  were  at 
first  mere  folds  of  skin,  and  that  these  little  thread- 
like rays  have  grown  into  them  later.  We  find  this 
is  the  case  as  a  little  fish  grows.  It  has  at  first 
folds,  then  soft  rays,  which  afterward  harden  into 
spines. 

While  away  down  in  the  rocks  the  fossil  fishes 
which  have  spines  (as  well  as  rays)  in  their  fins  are 
of  a  very  early  type,  we  find  now  that  in  the  hony 
fishes  the  spiny-finned  kinds  are  the  highest,  and, 
from  other  things,  they  appear  to  be  evidently  the 
latest  formed. 
50 


SPINES  AND  RAYS. 


51 


Thus  the  bony  fishes  (which  include  most  of  the 
fishes)  seem  to  be  split  up  into  two  sections  over  the 
subject  of  this  needle-and- thread  business. 

There  are,  however,  some  families  that  have  both 
kinds  of  fins,  or  rather  fins  with  both  spiny  and  soft 


FIG.  26. — Angel  fish  (Rhino,  sonatina). 

rays  in  them.  They  thus  form  connecting  links  be- 
tween the  two  great  groups.  So  extensive  is  this 
intergrading  that  the  rays  and  spines  alone  are  not 
enough  to  separate  the  two  divisions, 

But  these  bony  fishes  differ  in  many  other  things 


52  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

that  show  a  family  rupture  away  down  the  ages  some- 
where. The  soft-firmed  branch  tended  to  wear  its  air- 
bladder  with  a  tube  attached  to  the  stomach,  and  to 
fasten  its  ventrals  far  back  and  to  pin  on  its  pectorals 
rather  low  down.  It  rarely  had  any  spines  in  the 
ventrals. 

The  other  and  higher  branch  had  some  spines  in 
all  the  fins,  often  quite  abundant,  wore  a  ductless  air- 
bladder  or  none  at  all,  fastened  its  ventrals  far  for- 
ward and  its  pectorals  high  up  on  the  sides,  and  had 
some  other  peculiar  and  rather  modern  arrangements 
of  parts. 

In  the  lower  division,  or  soft-rayed  fishes,  the  rays 
appear  to  be  broken  up  into  a  series  of  little  sections 
or  joints,  whereby  they  are  very  easily  bent  (flexible) ; 
and  some  are  even  branched  out  near  the  tips  into 
many  spreading  twigs  or  forks.  Although  a  few  of 
the  rays  in  these  fishes  (always  those  in  the  front  end 
of  the  fin,  as  we  learned  in  the  study  of  the  dorsal) 
often  harden  into  spines,  those  persons  who  have 
looked  say  that,  with  a  microscope,  the  original  little 
sections  can  still  be  seen — now  fused  together.  In 
the  spiny-rayed  fishes  the  spines,  it  is  said,  do  not 
show  these  joints  under  the  glass. 

We  shall  see  that  JSTature  is  very  prone  to  put  a 
bone  or  bony  matter  anywhere  that  it  seems  to  be 
needed,  and  she  may  build  bones  out  of  gristle  or 
directly  from  the  flesh  and  the  skin. 

All  rays  are  formed  from  the  skin,  and  it  might 
be  more  correct  perhaps  to  say  that  when  soft  they 
tend  to  be  horny  rather  than  gristly.  The  film  that 


BONE-FORMING  TENDENCY  IN  FINS.  53 

is  supported  or  stretched  between  them  is  a  sort  of 
very  thin  skin. 

This  bone-forming  tendency  in  the  fins  is  shown 
also  in  the  very  low  fishes  which  are  below  the  bony 
kinds.  The  sharks  have,  in  some  cases,  one  great 
spine  in  the  front  edge  of  the  dorsal  (see  DOG  FISH, 


FIG.  27.— John  Doree  (Zeus  faber). 

Fig.  19,  page  37).  The  preservation  of  this  fin  along 
with  the  teeth  in  the  very  old  rocks  helps  to  identify 
a  fish  that  had  no  really  bony  skeleton  to  leave  be- 
hind it,  and  it  shows  us  how  these  early  spines  began 
to  form. 


54  THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  soft  rays  have  sometimes 
been  "long-drawn-out"  for  ornamental  and  pro- 
tective purposes,  as  seen  in  the  hair-fin,  and  in  the 
John  Doree  and  the  young  angler  (see  Fig.  27,  page 
53 ;  also  Fig.  28).  We  have  also  noticed  in  the  sea- 
robin  that  these  may  be  separated  and  shaped  into 
feelers,  etc. — a  use  which  will  be  farther  noticed  under 
TOUCH. 

The  spines  of  the  fins  are  often  capable  of  lying 
back  upon  each  other,  and  can  be  erected  at  will  so 
as  to  give  a  very  terrifying  or  frightful  appearance. 

We  shall  see  later,  under 
WEAPONS,  that  they  may 
be  useful  as  well  as  fright- 
ful, and  that  a  fish  may 
literally  almost  look  dag- 
gers at  his  enemy. 

Some   of    these   spines 

FIG.  28.-YoungeOf  goosefish  or    ^^     behind     them     ^ 

grooves  in  the  flesh,  into 

which  they  may  shut  as  the  blade  of  a  knife  into 
its  handle — so  that  the  fish  may  be  guilty  of  really 
carrying  concealed  weapons.  Many  spines  are  fas- 
tened simply  to  a  little  bony  base  that  sits  in  the 
flesh,  and,  in  a  few  cases,  the  joint  is  the  same  as 
if  a  ring  were  set  in  a  staple — just  as  two  links  of  a 
chain  join.  In  this  case  the  spine  has  a  hole  or 
eye  in  the  lower  end,  and  is  really  a  bony  needle ; 
and  this  kind  and  others  have  really  been  used  as 
a  needle  by  savage  peoples.  Perhaps  the  needle 
had  its  origin  thus :  for  in  many  cases,  where  man 


SCALES  AND  THE  OUTSIDE  SKELETON.         55 

has  called  himself  an  inventor,  he  has  been  merely 
copying  Nature.  In  this  respect  he  owes  no  class  of 
creatures  more  than  the  fishes,  and  really  seems  to 
owe  them  a  royalty  on  his  boats,  paddles,  screw  pro- 
pellers even,  rudders,  keels,  and  so  on.  It  is  only 
lately  that  we  found  out  that  a  yacht  with  a  center- 
board  could  outsail  one  without  it ;  while  the  anal  fin 
of  the  fish  was  acting  as  such  in  ancient  seas,  the  only 
hint  of  man  was — a  jelly  string. 

Rays  can  not  in  any  sense  be  called  a  fish's  fingers, 
since  they  are  more  truly  merely  nails  or  claws.  They 
are  capable  of  being  regrown  at  the  tips  when  worn 
or  broken,  as  are  also  the  films  between ;  but  the 
higher  fishes  can  not  regrow  any  other  lost  parts. 

SCALES  AND  THE  OUTSIDE  SKELETON. 

Before  she  made  the  true  fishes  and  the  few  fish- 
like  creatures,  Nature  had  been  putting  nearly  all  of 
the  skeleton  on  the  outside  of  things.  Now  and  then 
she  placed  a  soft  bone  somewhere  inside,  like  that  of 
the  cuttlefish  on  which  we  feed  canaries ;  but  it  did 
not  seem  to  mean  much.  Often  this  outside  skeleton 
was  stiff  or  unjointed,  as  the  shells  of  the  mollusks ; 
but  it  was  also  frequently  hinged  and  flexible,  like  the 
armor  of  the  old  knights,  as  we  may  see  in  the  lobsters 
and  insects. 

When  she  put  an  inside  skeleton  in  things,  Nature 
did  not  quit  this  old  way  of  building  from  the  skin 
these  outside  horny  or  bony  coverings  wherever  they 
were  still  needed,  but  she  did  not  hesitate  to  tear  them 
off  when  they  were  much  in  the  way  or  of  no  use. 


56  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

Many  fishes  now  do  not  have  this  outside  hard 
covering,  which  consists  usually  of  scales  or  bony 
plates,  but  the  evidence  is  that  all  true  fishes  have 
had  it  in  some  shape,  and  that  those  which  appear 
naked  have  lost  it. 

Thus  in  some  smooth  fishes  there  are  said  to  be 
small  scales,  which  scarcely  touch  each  other,  lying 
hidden  beneath  the  skin.  Such  is  the  case  usually  in 
the  trouts.  The  lampreys,  most  eels,  and  many  higher 
fishes,  are  entirely  naked.  Some  of  these  may  never 
have  had  any  scales,  since  the  lancelet — hinting  so 
much  of  a  fish,  and  yet  so  near  the  worms — has  none. 

The  true  scales  of  fishes  seem  usually  to  consist 
of  horny  material,  somewhat  like  that  of  our  finger- 
nails, though  in  some  cases  they  become  bony,  or  are 
in  the  form  of  bony  plates.  They  seem  to  be  easily 
developed  on  any  surface  where  there  is  need  for 
them.  Thus,  on  the  human  heel — especially  when 
much  exposed  and  rubbed  by  travel  barefoot — there 
is  a  tendency  toward  forming  something  like  a  scale. 
At  any  rate,  Nature  has  put  the  material  there  for 
building  something  of  the  kind.  The  corn  on  the 
foot  is  only  Nature's  response  to  the  same  thing. 
She  seems  to  say,  "  If  you  are  going  to  keep  on  rub- 
bing this  place,  I  shall  have  to  harden  it  for  you." 
If  you  continually  press  a  region  already  near  the 
bone  and  rather  gristly,  she  gradually  deposits  bone 
into  it,  and  you  have  a  bunion. 

So  doubtless  the  fish  got  its  scales  in  the  places 
and  at  the  time  when  it  had  need  for  them.  Perhaps 
as  they  glided  between  things  the  sides  needed  pro- 


HOW  SCALES  ARE   FORMED.  57 

tection  and  scales  formed  here  first,  as  they  do  yet  in 
the  little  fish  as  it  grows.  In  some  cases,  though  not 
in  all,  this  growth  in  the  little  fish,  it  is  quite  likely, 
shows  where  scales  may  have  first  formed  in  the  race. 
Take  this  without  proof  now,  for  we  will  have  to  re- 
fer to  it  several  times  before  we  reach  the  proper 
place  to  try  to  show  more  clearly  why  a  little  fish  in 
getting  its  growth  seems  to  explain  the  manner  in 
which  its  family  got  certain. structure. 

In  the  carps  now,  where,  by  selecting  the  least 
scaly,  we  try  to  make  a  scaleless  kind,  it  may  be 
noticed  that  the  scales  along  the  middle  of  the  sides 
are  the  last  to  go. 

Whether  brand-new  scales  are  made  to  order  di- 
rectly from  the  skin  or  not,  we  may  feel  sure  that 
in  some  cases  Nature  has  formed  some  new  kinds  of 
scales  out  of  old  ones.  The  old  dame  is  very  fond 
of  working  up  any  kind  of  bric-a-brac  a  creature  may 
have  about  it  into  something  useful.  In  many  cases 
we  can  see  where  two  different  kinds  of  scales  come 
together — or  rather  blend  into  one  that  is  neither  the 
old  nor  the  new — and  yet  is  like  both. 

The  sharks,  rays,  etc.,  have  a  very  peculiar  and 
original  skin  covering  of  their  own,  which  is  not 
scales  at  all.  It  seems  more  like  a  lot  of  little  warts 
or  pimples  that  first  grew  on  the  skin,  and  afterward 
became  bonelike — or  rather  toothlike — not  horny. 
Then,  later  on,  a  hard,  glistening  material  like  that 
on  the  outside  of  our  teeth — known  as  enamel, 
formed  on  top  of  these  little  pimplelike  projections, 
especially  near  their  tips,  and  this  kind  of  outside 


58  THE  STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 

skeleton — skin,  bony  points,  and  all — is  called  sha- 
green. It  is  a  beautiful  and  elegant  protection,  and 
in  this  case  the  fish  may  be  said  to  escape  injury, 
not  by  "  the  skin  of  its  teeth,"  but  by  the  teeth  of 
its  skin,  rather.  We  shall  see  later  that  a  fish  can 
easily  grow  teeth  wherever  they  are  needed,  even  out- 
side of  the  mouth  or  inside  far  down  beyond  it. 

Purses  and  other  ornamental  things  are  made  of 
this  skin  tanned  with  these  teeth  left  upon  it. 

Among  the  sturgeon  forms,  the  style  of  outside 
covering  that  was  fashionable  at  first  was  a  lot  of 
large,  bony,  squarish  plates  arranged  in  rows  and 
placed  edge  to  edge — not  like  shingles — as  are  the 
scales  proper  of  the  usual  fish.  In  the  old  geological 
times  some  of  these  plates  were  enormous,  as  we  shall 
see  later.  But  even  in  this  low  group  of  fishes,  scales 
proper  began  soon  to  show,  and  some  of  them  now 
have  them  shaped  like  those  of  the  bony  fishes,  though 
they  are  always  much  less  rounded. 

These  squarish  plates  are  usually  called  scutes 
when  very  bony,  and  they  show  the  relationship  of 
the  fishes  upon  which  they  grow  downward  toward 
the  sharks  by  frequently  having  enamel  upon  them. 

It  was  the  study  of  these  scales  alone,  found  in 
the  rocks,  that  enabled  the  great  naturalist  Agassiz 
to  tell  us  what  kind  of  fishes  lived  in  a  long-ago  age, 
and  led  him  to  set  apart  this  soft-boned,  enamel- 
scaled  group  to  itself — an  arrangement  which  has 
been  of  vast  help  in  the  study  of  fishes.  Although 
it  is  now  well  known  to  students  that  the  sturgeon 
forms  blend  into  the  bony  fishes  almost  without  a 


BONY   PLATES.  ,    59 

\y 

break — one  genus  having  both  squarish  scutes  and 
roundish  scales  on  the  same  fish — jet  the  old  group 
(known  as  Ganoids)  will  be  kept  in  fish  literature  be- 
cause it  presents  to  us  a  stage  through  which  all  the 
forefathers  of  our  common  fishes  once  passed. 

It  is  reported  that  Agassiz,  when  a  boy,  said  mod- 
estly, "  I  think  fishes  a  little  sometimes " ;  and  the 
author  is  putting  many  things  here  in  as  simple  a 
manner  as  possible  that  his  young  readers  may  be 
able  to  "  think  fishes  a  little,"  as  well  as  see  them  and 
read  about  them.  Too  frequently  we  all — either  in 
our  cruelty,  greediness,  or  vanity — swallow,  throw 
away,  or  wear  on  our  heads  or  bodies  many  things 
that  might  feed  our  minds  with  delights  if  our  men- 
tal tastes  were  properly  trained. 

In  the  bony  fishes  the  rule  is :  scales  proper  or  no 
scales  at  all.  But  there  are  some  exceptions  here  also, 
where  great  bony  plates,  of  so  many  different  shapes  that 
we  can  not  describe  or  figure  them  all,  may  be  found. 
In  some,  as  the  trunk  fishes,  the  plates  are  many  and 
placed  edge  to  edge  so  that  the  body  may  be  bent, 
but  other  fish  are  immovably  incased  for  a  certain 
length  in  solid  armor,  almost  like  that  of  a  tortoise 
(see  Fig.  29,  on  page  60). 

In  the  group  known  as  the  swellfishes  there  are 
all  sorts  of  outside  coverings.  Some  possess  bony 
scutes  out  of  which  spines  project,  while  in  others, 
as  the  porcupine  fish,  the  covering  consists  of  spines 
only  that  are  rooted  directly  into  the  flesh.  Many 
other  fishes  have  bony  plates  on  certain  parts  of  the 
body  only,  either  with  or  without  scales  elsewhere. 


60 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 


Others  of  this  swellfish  group  have  the  skin  beau- 
tifully paved  with  thin  scutes,  like  the  squares  of  a 
checkerboard,  or  simply  with  soft  plates  of  tough 
skin.  Some  gurnards,  of  which  group  the  sea-robin 
is  a  member,  have  bony  plates  also.  The  alligator 
fishes  and  their  kin  are  completely  covered  with 
about  eight  rows  of  bony  plates,  and  their  heads  are 


FIG.  29. — Trunkfish  (Ostracion  qundricornis),  above.  Rabbit  fish  (  Ln- 
gocephalus  lievigatus),  below  at  the  left.  Trunkfish,  three-quarter 
view,  below  at  the  right. 

entirely  bony  outside.  In  ordinary  scaly  fishes  the 
head  also  may  be  scaly,  but  it  is  often  naked  and 
skinny  or  warty. 

In  the  mackerel  forms  some  fishes  have  the  scales 
behind  the  head  projecting  backward,  forming  a  great 
collar  or  mantle  about  what  may  appear  as  a  fish's 


SCALES. 


61 


shoulders.     We  shall  see  that  some  fossil  fishes  had 
similar  bony  garments  or  shields  long  ago. 

Other  fishes  are  simply  warty,  or  both  warty  and 
spiny,  as  the  lumpsuckers  ;  for,  as 
has  been  suggested,  skin -spines 
began  quite  likely  as  warts  or  pim- 
ples, and  were  filled  with  bony 
matter. 

Scales  proper  are  divided  into 
three  kinds. 

The  first  are  those  that  are 
squarish,  called  Ganoid  scales 
(here  shown,  Fig.  30).  They  have  already  been  de- 
scribed as  belonging  mostly  to  the  sturgeon  forms. 
Some  of  these,  however,  show  a  tendency  to  change 
into  the  ordinary  scales.  As  noted,  both  kinds  are 
found  on  the  same  fish.  By  looking  at  this  picture 
of  our  American  garpike  (Fig.  31),  which  is  a  sturgeon 
form,  you  will  see  that  in  the  arrangement  of  these 
scales  there  is  hinted  the  nice  rows  and  general  order 
of  the  scales  on  the  higher  fishes. 


FIG.  30,— Ganoid  scale. 


FIG.  31. — American  garpike. 

The  ordinary  or  roundish  scales  are  of  two  kinds. 
The  simpler  form  is  called  Cycloid,  because  they  are 
quite  roundish  in  outline,  and  their  rear  or  fore  edges 
are  rather  smooth  or  merely  roundly  scalloped  (see 


62  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

Fig.  32).  By  close  examination  it  may  be  seen  that 
the  scale  consists  of  a  series  of  thin  layers,  the  bot- 
tom one  oldest  and  largest,  and  each  one  above  is  a 
little  smaller  than  the  last.  So  also  some  scales  that 
are  very  thick  show  that,  in  getting  into  their  present 
proper  shape,  they  have  wrinkled  a  little  in  the  rear. 
These  are  doubtless  closer  to  the  squarish  Ganoid 
scale,  and  may  have  been  made  from  them ;  they 
are  found  mostly  on  the  lower  division  of 'the  bony 
fishes,  where  the  rays  are  soft,  etc. ;  but  the  line  is 


FIG.  32.— Cycloid  scale.  FIG.  33.— Ctenoid  scale. 

not  a  clear  one,  for  some  higher  fishes  also  have 
them.  Mackerels  possess  both  this  and  the  next  kind 
on  the  same  fish. 

This  next  kind  of  scale  is  called  Ctenoid,  from  a 
Greek  word  that  means  a  comb,  because  they  have,  on 
their  rear  or  free  edge,  teeth  or  sharp  notches  (see 
Fig.  33).  They  show  many  other  peculiarities,  one 
of  these  being  that  they  grow  in  layers.  In  some 
cases  each  one  of  these  layers  has  had  its  notches  on 
the  rear  edged  as  it  formed,  and  these  seem  to  have 
turned  up,  and  when  the  scale  is  complete  they  form 
rough  points  or  short  spines  on  the  hindmost  surface 
of  the  scale.  They  show  also  certain  foldings  and 


HOW  SCALES  GROW  ON  FISH.  63 

wrinkles  in  their  shape.  We  may  call  them  "  toothed 
scales." 

They  are  found,  with  exceptions,  rather  in  the 
higher  of  the  bony  fishes.  They  are  probably  the 
last  form  of  scale  that  was  made. 

Scales  lie,  on  full-grown  fishes,  as  do  the  shingles 
on  a  roof,  where  they  are  put  on  regularly.  In  little 
fishes  the  scales  do  not  overlap,  but  only  touch  edge 
to  edge,  like  those  (Ganoid)  of  the  sturgeon  forms 
(see  Fig.  31,  on  page  61).  By  comparing  the  picture 
of  any  scaly  fish  with  that  of  the  garpike,  a  similarity 
of  arrangement  can  be  noticed.  Scales  are  of  great 
help  in  describing  fishes  and  distinguishing  species 
from  each  other,  though  they  are  no  longer  used  in 
separating  the  great  groups.  Still,  we  might  take  a 
little  review  of  them,  noting  how  the  various  kinds 
are,  with  exceptions,  largely  associated  with  certain 
of  the  great  divisions.  Thus : 

1.  Shagreen — on  shark  forms  only. 

2.  Squarish  enameled  plates  or  Ganoid  scales— 
on  sturgeon  forms. 

3.  Eoundish   smooth-edged   scales,   or    Cydoid^- 
largely  on  lower  bony  fishes. 

4.  Koundish    tooth-edged    scales,    or    Ctenoid— 
largely  on  higher  bony  fishes. 


TALK   VII. 

How  a  fish  knows  the  world  and  what  it  seems  to  know  of  it ;  or 
the  senses  of  touch,  taste,  smell,  hearing,  and  sight,  and  their 
corresponding  organs. 

A  FISH,  like  many  other  creatures,  knows  the  world 
by  means  of  its  outside  covering,  for  it  is  by  this  that 
it  comes  in  contact  with  its  surroundings.  While 
scales,  spines,  etc.,  may  appear  to  touch  and  feel,  yet 
they  only  carry  the  force  by  which  they  come  in 
contact  with  whatever  they  meet,  back  to  the  skin, 
where  the  real  sensation  exists.  The  greatest  feel- 
ing organ  of  an  animal  is  the  skin  proper. 

The  skin  of  fishes  is  not  much  unlike  that  of  the 
higher  creatures.  It  has  an  outside  layer  which  is 
not  sensitive — that  is,  has  no  feeling  in  it — beneath 
which  is  the  true  skin.  This  forms  the  envelope 
that  contains  the  entire  body.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  a  large  portion  of  the  outside  parts  of 
fishes  are  formed  from  their  skins,  and  that  from  its 
folds  have  been  developed  scales,  fins,  rays,  spines,  etc. 

Not  only  the  bones  covering  the  body,  but  those 
that  form  the  head  and  cover  the  gills,  are  formed 
directly  from  the  skin.  They  are  called  dermal  bones 
or  skin  bones.  There  are  some  low  fishes  whose 
skulls  are  formed  of  dermal  bones  only. 

The  skin  of  fishes  does  not  appear  to  have  in  it 
04 


THE  SENSE  OF  TOUCH  IN   FISHES.  65 

the  various  glands  that  are  found  in  the  higher  crea- 
tures. While  it  has  many  openings  through  it  from 
which  mucus  is  discharged,  it  does  not  secrete  mucus. 
The  mucus  comes  from  glands  that  are  under  th 
skin.  Perhaps  much  of  the  slime  we  find  on  the  out- 
side of  fishes  is  due  to  the  softening,  by  the  water,  of 
the  old  worn-out  skin  into  a  sort  of  jelly.  We  shall 
bring  up  the  subject  of  mucus  under  another  head- 
ing. (See  Talk  IX.) 

While  speaking  of  the  uses  of  the  skin,  it  is  as 
well  perhaps  to  say  here  that  fishes,  like  frogs,  tur- 
tles, etc.,  are  able  to  breathe  by  means  of  it ;  but 
more  about  this  will  come  up  under  BREATHING. 

TOUCHING. 

As  hinted,  the  skin  is  the  first  great  organ  of 
touch,  and  it  has  nerves  especially  sent  to  it  for  this 
purpose. 

In  the  fishes,  as  in  ourselves,  some  places  on  the 
body  are  more  sensitive  than  others.  Usually  these 
are  at  certain  points  which  are  used  in  feeling  to  find 
out  the  shape  and  location  of  objects.  Like  other 
things,  the  sense  of  touch  is  developed  at  places  where 
it  is  most  required. 

As  noticed,  these  places  need  not  be  always  bare, 
for  scales,  spine,  rays,  etc.,  and  other  hard  things,  as 
our  finger  nails,  may  become  agents  of  the  sense  of 
touch,  because  they  move  certain  delicate  nerves  at 
the  ends  where  they  grow  from  the  flesh.  This  is 
the  case,  as  is  well  known,  with  the  hairs  about  the 
months  of  cats,  rats,  and  many  other  beasts. 


66  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

But  as  they  have  these  hairs,  and  we  have  our 
fingers  and  the  tips  of  our  tongues,  so  fishes  have 
special  instruments  for  finding  out  the  shape  and  size 
of  things  by  feeling.  Some  of  these  we  have  been 
compelled  to  notice  as  we  have  come  along. 

Besides  having  some  rays  of  the  fins  separated 
from  the  others  for  this  purpose,  fishes  have  barbels, 
or  little  fleshy  whiplike  strings  that  grow  somewhere 
near  the  head,  by  which  they  may  feel  their  way 
when  approaching  a  rock,  the  bottom,  or  their  prey. 

A  notable  and  common  example  of  this  is  the 
common  cattishes  of  our  creeks  and  rivers,  where  there 


FIG.  34. — The  burbot  (Lota  maculosa). 

may  be  as  many  as  eight  of  these  feelers  (see  Fig.  1, 
on  page  2).  The  codfishes  and  also  some  others 
have  at  least  one  of  these,  projecting  directly  down 
from  the  lower  lip,  as  if  to  prevent  them  from  scrap- 
ing themselves  on  the  bottom. 

The  barbel,  the  burbot  (Fig.  34),  the  sand  cusk 
(Fig.  18,  on  page  36),  the  loach,  and  others,  are 
similarly  armed.  From  this  the  former  gets  its 
name.  The  loach  feeds  under  rocks  and  feels  for 
its  prey. 


THE   SENSE  OF   TASTE   IN   FISHES.  67 

So  well  do  these  help  the  fish  that  it  is  said  that 
blind  codfish,  by  their  aid,  have  no  trouble  in  keep- 
ing fat  and  thriving.  Among  the  deep-sea  fish  bar- 
bels are  found  in  great  abundance,  where,  on  account 
of  there  being  no  light,  much  must  depend  upon 
feeling. 

Barbels  may  have  other  uses,  as  we  shall  see  later. 
As  a  rule,  they  show  at  once  that  the  fish  is  a  bottom 
feeder  or,  at  least,  a  still- water  haunter,  since  these 
flimsy  strings  could  not  be  directed  toward  an  object 
in  a  strong  current. 

Some  fishes,  as  carps,  chubs,  and  wrasses,  have 
very  sensitive  lips  or  noses,  which  they  use  in  the 
search  for  food. 

TASTE. 

Close  akin  to  touch  is  taste,  since  the  food  must 
be  touched  to  be  tasted.  While  fishes  have  means  of 
distinguishing  their  food,  their  sense  of  taste  does  not 
seem  to  be  keen.  They  are  led  more  by  touch,  sight, 
and  smell,  but  at  times  they  gulp  without  judgment 
anything  floating  within  their  reach.  It  is  likely  that 
taste  can  not  enable  them  to  greatly  enjoy  their  food, 
but  merely  to  judge  of  it  slightly.  Their  chief  enjoy- 
ment seems  to  come  largely  from  a  sense  of  fullness. 

In  those  fish  which  are  vegetable  feeders,  as  the 
carps,  the  food  is  often  chewed  for  some  time  before 
it  is  swallowed,  in  which  case  they  probably  taste  as 
they  eat.  So  likewise  in  others  which  crush  shell- 
fish and  such  things  before  they  swallow  them,  the 
gense  of  taste  may  be  considerably  developed. 


68  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

In  general,  there  are  some  nerves  of  taste  spread 
out  on  the  tongue  (when  a  tongue  is  present),  and 
others  are  scattered  on  the  palate  or  far  down  the 
throat ;  but  there  is  in  no  fish  such  an  ample  array 
of  taste-nerves  as  there  is  in  the  higher  vertebrates. 

SMELLING  AND  THE  NOSE. 

Fishes  smell  very  well.  Since  they  do  not  breathe 
air,  the  odors  must  come  to  them  through  the  water. 
As  a  rule,  the  nostrils  of  fishes  are  closed  at  the  rear, 
and  do  not  open  into  the  mouth  as  do  ours. 

All  fishes  proper  have  two  nostrils.  In  the  two 
low  groups,  the  lamprey  -  forms,  there  is  a  single 
nostril. 

Only  in  the  hagfish  (a  lamprey-form)  and  in  the 
lungfishes  does  the  nostril  open  into  the  mouth.  The 
latter  in  this  way  show  a  tendency  to  be  like  the 
higher  animals,  in  which  smelling  is  always  con- 
nected with  breathing.  Doubtless  some  of  the  water 
which  is  breathed  by  lungfishes  passes  the  nostrils. 
But  in  other  fishes  this  can  not  be  the  case.  They 
could  still  smell  if  they  "  held  their  breath,"  but  such 
fish  really  have  no  breath  to  hold. 

It  seems  remarkable  that  the  organ  of  smell  is  not 
placed  in  the  gill-cavity,  where  so  much  water  passes. 

In  some  eels  and  other  fishes  there  are  two  pairs 
of  nostrils. 

HEARING  AND  THE  EAE. 

Fishes  hear  very  well,  especially  when  they  are  in 
the  water.  The  author  has  frequently  clapped  his 


THE  SENSE   OF   HEARING   IN   FISHES.  69 

hands  above  a  school  of  little  fishes,  to  see  them  sud- 
denly sink. 

The  ear  of  the  fish  is  a  very  simple  affair,  and  is 
usually  in  itself  closed,  having  neither  outside  form 
nor  opening.  Our  ears  open  both  outward  to  the  air 
and  inward  to  the  throat,  but  in  the  highest  fishes 
there  are  neither  of  these  passages,  except  the  carps  and 
codfishes,  where  there  is  an  opening  into  the  mouth. 

The  ear  of  a  hatching  fish  forms  on  the  outside  as 
a  little  closed  sac  filled  with  fluid,  and  sinks  into  the 
head  as  the  creature  grows.  In  the  shark  forms  the 
tube  or  path  taken  by  this  sac  as  it  goes  in,  remains 
open  during  life,  and  has  a  flap  or  valve  over  it ;  but 
it  is  not  known  to  have  any  other  use  than  to  show 
us  how  ears  were  formed.  The  higher  bony  fishes 
have  no  such  opening,  and  the  ear  is  far  inside  the 
head,  having  bone  all  around  it. 

But  in  the  carps  and  the  loach  the  ear  is  connected 
with  the  air-bladder  by  means  of  a  series  of  bones, 
and  in  some  others  there  is  a  more  direct  connection 
by  means  of  canals.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that 
this  enables  the  fish  to  better  feel  jars  (or  vibrations) 
of  the  water. 

The  internal  ears  of  the  true  fishes  are  very  im- 
perfect in  comparison   with  those  of  man  and  the 
higher  animals.     But  they  are  similar  to  the  higher     / 
ears  in  always  having  three  little  bones  present  inside 
of  them. 

Lancelets  have  no  ear  whatever.  Lampreys  have 
only  a  sac  with  the  rudest  parts  in  it,  while  the  ear  of 
the  hagfisli  is  simpler  still. 


70  THE  STOEY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

A  fish  does  not  need  so  good  an  ear  as  do  the  land 
animals,  because  it  does  not  so  largely  seek  its  prey 
or  escape  its  enemies  by  means  of  hearing.  Its  whole 
body  and  nervous  system  may  help  it  feel  the  jar  at 
the  approach  of  an  enemy  on  land,  much  as  deaf  per- 
sons become  sensible  of  heavy  sounds. 

Along  the  sides  of  fishes  is  a  line  called  the  lateral 
line,  made  up  of  peculiar  scales,  beneath  which  there 
are  great  numbers  of  nerves,  as  though  it  were  in 
some  way  a  sense  organ.  Some  have  thought  that  it 
means  special  touch  here,  but  it  seems  that  it  might  be 
as  probable  that  the  purpose  of  these  nerves  is  to  ap- 
preciate (feel)  vibrations  or  jars  of  the  water. 

Another  use  of  ears  in  fishes  is  to  hear  the  call  of 
a  mate,  for  it  now  seems  fairly  well  known  that,  at 
some  seasons,  certain  fishes  push  their  heads  above  the 
water  .and  call,  or  rather  speak,  so  that  their  sweet- 
hearts or  friends  may  hear  and  come  to  them. 

EYES  AND  SEEING. 

The  eyes  of  fishes  are  not  much  unlike  those  of 
other  backboned  creatures  (vertebrates).  They  agree 
with  those  of  snakes,  lizards,  frogs,  etc.,  in  having  the 
transparent  outside  skin  run  over  the  balls,  which  are 
not  movable.  Usually  a  fish's  eye  has  no  true  lid  that 
can  be  winked  as  ours  can.  But  some  sharks  have  a 
sort  of  little  membranous  kerchief  in  one  corner  of 
the  eye  which  can  be  swept  over  the  ball  to  clean  it. 
Owls,  chickens,  rabbits,  and  others  have  the  same. 
It  is  called  a  nictitating  membrane,  and  is  in  no  sense 
a  lid, 


THE  SENSE   OF   SIGHT  IN  FISHES.  71 

Some  fishes  have,  however,  a  fold  of  skin  around 
the  eye  which  looks  like  a  lid,  though  it  is  not  mov- 
able. At  certain  seasons  the  false  lids  become  en- 
larged or  very  fat,  so  that  they  answer  for  a  sort  of 
ornament.  This  reminds  one  of  the  practice  of  some 
birds  which  put  beautiful  colors  about  the  eye  on  spe- 
cial occasions,  and  of  some  other  biped  beauties  who, 
are  said  to  pencil  their  eyebrows  and  darken  the  Jashes. 

Of  course,  swimming  in  the  water  all  the  time,  a 
fish  has  no  use  for  a  lid  to  sweep  moisture  over  the 
ball,  as  we  have  when  we  wink  ;  and  since  tears  were 
made  primarily  for  this  purpose  of  dampening  the 
eye,  there  are  no  tear  glands  in  fishes ;  they  do  not 
express  their  feelings  in  that  way.  Bat  there  are 
some  fishes  that  crawl  out  on  the  land  and  look 
around.  One  of  these,  the  mud -skipper,  pulls  its  eye 
down  deep  into  the  socket  and  rolls  the  ball  over 
backward  till  the  front  part  is  directly  backward,  and 
thus  well  moistened,  when  it  is  again  ready  to  look 
around  well.  It  sweeps  the  ball  under  the  lid  instead 
of  the  lid  over  the  ball.  This  play  of  the  ball  enables 
this  fish  to  thrust  its  eye  far  up  from  the  head  also  as 
it  looks  around.  It  can  thus  at  will  make  itself  as 
"  pop-eyed  "  as  it  pleases.  See  how  very  frog-like  it 
is  in  its  expansion  !  (See  Fig.  21,  on  page  43.) 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  eye  in  any  back- 
boned creature  (vertebrate)  is  found  in  a  fish  for 
which  there  is  no  English  name.  It  is  called  Ana- 
bleps,  from  this,  peculiarity  of  eyes  (see  Fig.  35,  on 
page  72).  You  have  seen  that  style  of  spectacles  in 
which  the  glasses  are  made  of  two  pieces — an  upper 


72 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 


and  a  lower.  The  upper  is  a  half  of  one  lens  of  a 
certain  strength  to  see  far  off  with,  and  the  lower  is 
the  half  of  another  more  powerful  lens  made  to  see 
things  near  by. 

Now  this  fish  has  eyes  that  are  similarly  divided. 
The  upper  half  of  the  ball  is  shaped  to  look  far  off 
over  the  water,  and  the  lower  half  is  shaped  to  see 
near  by  under  the  water.  The  fish  is  a  surface  feeder, 
and  may  look  out  both  ways  for  food  or  foe  ;  and  if  the 
surface  is  calm  it  can  see  into  the  two  "  elements  "  at 

the  same  time  by 
getting  its  head  just 
right.  There  are 
two  holes  (pupils 
or  "  sights  ")  lead- 
ing into  the  ball, 
and  consequently 
the  fish  is  really 
double-eyed. 

In  the  location 
of  the  eyes  about 
the  head,  fishes  are  very  variable.  Eyes  seem  to  be 
placed  where  most  needed.  Usually,  as  in  our  sunfish, 
they  are  well  back  on  the  sides  (see  Fig.  1,  on  page  2). 
In  others  they  may  be  lower,  but  especially  higher. 
Fishes  that  feed  on  the  bottoms,  or  look  for  their 
food  there,  seem  to  depend  rather  upon  feeling  for 
it  or  prodding  it  up  with  their  snouts  than  upon 
seeing  it  directly.  This  may  be  because  such  food 
is  usually  hidden  from  sight  under  sand  or  mud.  At 
any  rate_,  very  few  eyes  are  directed  downward. 


FIG.  35.— Head  of  four  eyes  (Anableps 
tetropthalmus ) . 


WHERE  EYES  ARE  PLACED  IN  FISHES.        Y3 

In  such  fishes  as  lie  on  the  bottom  in  wait  for 
their  prey,  the  eyes  are  set  close  together  on  the  top 
of  the  head,  so  that  they  may  look  up  well  at  passing 
things.  We  have  seen  that  this  is  the  case  with 
others  which,  as  the  mud-skippers  (see  Fig.  21,  page 
43)  and  star-gazers,  climb  out  on  land  and  look 
around.  Here  they  are  placed  high  up  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

The  rule  is  that  both  eyes  seem  to  have  moved 
upward  till  they  came  close  together,  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  rays,  angler,  the  dragonets,  and  others.  But 
in  the  flatfishes  (see  Fig.  11,  page  24),  which  lie  on 
one  side,  the  eye  beneath  has  crept  around  on  the 
upper  side  and  stands  near  the  other.  In  very  young 
flatfish  the  eyes  are  as  they  are  in  a  perch  or  other 
ordinary  fish. 

As  noted,  the  hammer-headed  shark  has  its  eyes  on 
large,  fleshy  steins,  sticking  out  from  the  sides  of  the 
head  (see  Fig.  13,  on  page  27).  Unless  these  stems 
are  projected  above  the  water  so  that  the  eye  may  look 
around,  it  is  hard  to  see  their  use. 

It  is  well  known  that  snails  have  their  eyes  on 
fleshy  stems,  which  may  be  thrust  upward  for  watch- 
ing. 

In  proportion  to  their  size,  young  fish  have  much 
larger  eyes  than  the  grown  ones.  This  is  true  of 
many  other  creatures.  Some  fishes  have  such  large 
eyes  as  to  show  strongly  that  they  are  night  prowlers. 
Indeed,  it  is  well  known  that  most  fish  are  night 
feeders,  even  many,  as  our  catfishes,  which  swim  near 
the  bottom  But  fishes  sleep  sometimes — not  with 


EYES  OF  DEEP-SEA  FISHES.  75 

their  eyes  shut,  of  course.  Many,  because  the  for- 
ward fins  are  not  working  then,  lose  their  balance 
and  hang  head  downward  as  they  doze.  We  can  see 
here  again  a  reason  why  the  paired  fins  are  often  set 
so  far  forward. 

Deep-sea  fishes  also  frequently  have  large  eyes, 
evidently  to  allow  them  to  see  in  the  weird  phosphor- 
escent light,  like  that  of  fireflies,  which  may  be  made 
either  by  themselves  or  their  prey.  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  here  some  fishes  are  bright,  to  attract  prey, 
just  as  a  candle  attracts  moths,  a  beacon  draws  birds, 
and  a  light  lures  fishes  themselves  to  approach  it. 
Many  of  these  deep-sea  forms  carry  a  special  lantern 
in  the  shape  of  barbels  enlarged  at  the  end,  and  some 
have  certain  fatty  spots  which  seem,  perhaps,  to  fur- 
nish oil  to  burn  slowly.  But  of  this  later.  (See  Fig. 
36,  on  page  74.) 

What  concerns  us  now  is  that  here  in  these  great 
depths  only  are  found  fish  actually  or  totally  eyeless. 
Others  have  imperfect  eyes  left — remnants  of  what 
were  once  good  and  useful  eyes  when  their  forefathers 
swam  nearer  the  surface,  for  it  is  quite  evident  that 
deep-sea  fishes  came  of  kinds  that  did  not  begin  to 
exist  (originate)  in  these  great  depths.  Some  of 
them  have  lost  their  eyes,  just  as  certain  moles  have 
nearly  lost  theirs,  because  they  ceased  to  need  or  use 
them. 

It  has  been  thought  also  that  certain  peculiar 
pearl-colored  spots  on  these  deep-sea  fishes  are  not  so 
much  for  the  purpose  of  giving  out  light  as  for  feel- 
ing or  appreciating  it ;  that  they  are  a  rude  sort  of  eye 


Y6  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

that  in  these  great  ocean  depths  is  beginning  to  de- 
velop. It  is  the  belief  of  some  students  that  the  eye 
began  as  a  cluster  of  colored  grains  (or  cells  upon 
the  surface  of  the  skin),  which  could  feel  light  but 
not  see  anything.  Such  so-called  eye-spots  are  seen 
on  many  insects.  These  would  be  useful  to  these 
deep-sea  creatures  in  showing  them  when  they  were 
Hearing  a  light  or  the  surface,  though  the  lighter  or 
heavier  pressure  of  the  water  surrounding  them  tells 
them  this  latter. 

Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  the  lowest  of  our  fish 
forms,  the  lancelet,  has  for  eyes  only  such  flat  color- 
specks  on  the  surface  of  the  skin,  to  which  the  merest 
thread  of  a  nerve  runs.  Since  col  or- stained  cells  like 
these  are  all  clustered  together  away  back  in  the  ball 
of  every  perfect  eye,  this  eye-spot  of  the  lancelet  and 
those  of  deep-sea  fish  seem  a  little  as  if  they  were  the 
beginnings  of  eyes,  though  that  of  the  lancelet  may 
be  the  ending. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  with  the  eyes  re- 
moved or  covered  many  creatures  can  tell  when  a 
faint  light  even  is  shining  on  them  by  feeling  it  with 
their  skins. 

That  Nature  has  put  much  work  on  the  eye  of 
the  fishes  is  shown  by  the  large  lobes  of  brain  which 
she  has  devoted  to  its  use.  Out  of  these  is  sent  really 
a  stream  or  tube  of  the  brain — one  to  each  eye. 

An  interesting  thing  about  these  so-called  optic 
nerves  is  that,  as  they  run  from  the  eye  to  the  brain, 
they  meet  in  a  sort  of  stalk  before  they  get  there  in 
all  the  shark  forms,  they  cross  each  other,  but  their 


NERVES  OF   THE   EYES   OF   FISHES.  77 

fibers  lace  into  each  other  in  the  sturgeon  forms ; 
in  the  bony  fishes  they  cross  each  other  clearly  with- 
out joining  at  all.  In  the  hands  of  a  skilled  natu- 
ralist the  great  group  that  a  fish  belongs  to  may  be 
known  by  its  eye  nerves. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  add  that  in 
all  other  creatures  also  that  are  above  the  fishes  these 
optic  nerves  cross,  but  are  grown  together  at  the 
crossing. 


TALK  VIII. 

How  a  fish  looks  its  best  and  makes  the  most  of  its  accomplish- 
ments ;  or  the  expression  of  eyes,  mouth,  jaws,  etc.,  and  other 
ornaments  and  their  display. 

THE  eye  of  a  fish  is  very  expressive,  even  when  it 
is  dull  and  small,  as  in  the  catfishes  and  sharks,  or 
large  and  leering,  as  in  the  rays.  The  eye  of  our 
little  sunfish  is  open,  frank,  and  mischievous. 

There  is,  too,  in  the  cut  of  the  body  and  sweep  of 
the  tail  much  that  might  be  called  "  style  "  in  fishes. 
If  we  consider  their  movements,  we  call  them  grace- 
ful Perhaps  in  all  Nature  there  is  no  more  graceful 
motion  than  the  rapid  swimming  of  some  of  the  more 
stylish  fishes,  as  the  mackerel  or  trout,  or  the  gossa- 
mer-like floating  and  settling  downward  of  some  of 
the  perch-forms  and  carps.  In  graceful  curves  of 
outline,  also,  a  fish  is  not  excelled,  even  by  a  bird. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  head  as  affecting 
the  shape,  and  of  course  it  is  a  large  feature  in  a  fish's 
expression.  The  graceful  head  of  the  herrings  and 
others  adds  much  to  their  beauty.  Since  in  our  very 
natures  we  love  speed  so  much,  we  are  apt  to  ad- 
mire anything  which  indicates  it.  Grace  of  form  is 
invariably  associated  with  shape  for  speed.  A  wide, 
thick  head,  therefore,  can  not  be  so  pretty  in  a  fish  as 
a  sharp,  thin  one. 
78 


THE  MOUTH. 


T9 


As  in  other  things,  nothing  affects  a  fish's  ex- 
pression more  than  the  mouth.  It  may  range  from 
a  mere  pore  or  pinhole  opening,  at  the  end  of 
the  snout,  to  the  most  tremendous  slit,  almost  from 
one  gill  to  the  other.  This  slit  may  be  straight 
across — as  is  usual — curved  upward,  or  sloped  down- 
ward at  the  corners  of  the  mouth,  all  of  which  posi- 
tions give  very  different  expressions  of  greediness, 
sorrow,  or  humor.  That  of  the  catfish  (Fig.  1,  page 


FIG.  37. — Forkbeard  (Phycis  blennoides). 

2)  is  an  illustration  of  the  first ;  that  of  any  of  the 
perch-forms,  with  the  lower  lip  dropped',  well  rep- 
resents the  second ;  while  the  pert  look  of  the 
little  trumpet  fish  is  expressive  of  a  readiness  for 
fun. 

"While  the  mouth  has  to  be  always  about  the  head, 
it  is  located  variously  upon  it,  and,  like  other  things, 
it  is  placed  where  it  will  be  of  the  most  use  to  the 


80  THE  STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

fish.  We  can  usually  judge  a  great  deal  about  the 
place  where-  a  fish  feeds  by  looking  at  its  mouth. 
Those  feeding  on  the  bottom  are  apt  to  have  it  situ- 
ated very  low  down  on  the  end  of  the  head,  arid  in 


FIG.   38.— Mousefish  ( Chironnectes  Ixrigatus). 

the  case  of  some,  as  the  rays,  it  is  placed  far  back, 
appearing  as  if  it  were  under  the  body. 

There  appears  to  be  an  exception  in  the  sharks, 
which  are  known  to  feed  now  largely  on  floating 
things.  In  most  of  these  the  mouth  is  far  back 
under  the  head,  and  they  have  to  turn  on  their  backs 
before  they  can  seize  their  prey  from  the  surface  of 
the  water  (see  horned  dogfish,  Fig.  19,  page  37). 
Since  it  is  quite  evident  to  the  student  that  this 
kind  of  shark  has  come  from  kinds  that  once  fed 
on  the  bottoms,  we  can  easily  see  how  the  habit  of 
turning  over  has  prevented  the  moving  forward  of 
the  mouth.  In  a  few  sharks  the  mouth  is  well  at 


THE  POSITION  OF  THE  MOUTH.  81 

the  end  of  the  head.  Look  at  the  cut  of  the  white 
shark  (Fig.  8,  page  19),  and  note  how  well  adapted 
it  is  for  scooping  up  tilings  as  it  swims  over  them. 
As  we  go  on  we  will  find  much  to  convince  us  that  all 
sharks — in  fact,  all  fish  —were  originally  bottom-feed- 
ers. In  very  old  geological  times  the  first  sharks  lived 
where  there  were  plenty  of  shellfish,  and  they  fed  on 
these,  as  is  shown  by  their  having  then  crushing  teeth 
only  and  no  cutting  teeth  whatever.  Now  in  all  our 
dangerous  sharks  the  teeth  are  lancelike. 


FIG.    39.— The    Bergylt,    rosefish,     or    Norway    haddock    (Sebastes 
marinus). 

In  the  lowest  fish  form,  the  lancelet,  the  mouth  is 
a  mere  vertical  slit  in  (or  rather  under)  the  front  end 
of  the  body,  since  the  creature  has  no  true  head. 


82  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

Of  course,  the  lips  affect  the  expression  very  much. 
What  could  be  more  sorrowful  than  the  lowered  lip 
of  the  bergylt  here  figured  ?  It  has  such  a  literally 
"  down-at-the-mouth  "  appearance  !  (See  Fig.  39, 
page  81.) 

Of  course,  the  fish  is  not  sad,  but  has  just  dropped 
its  lower  jaw  to  scoop  up  some  favorite  morsel. 

But  the  lips  proper  may  be  very  thick,  as  in  the 
wrasse,  where  quite  an  African  thickness  is  found. 
These  lips  are  made  so,  of  course,  as  tools  for  delicate 
feeling.  Lips  are  not  very  prominent  things  about  a 
fish.  They  are  capable  of  very  slight  motion,  unless 
they  move  with  the  jaw.  Sometimes  they  take  on 
several  folds  and  appear  double,  but  the 
rule  is  that  they  are  stretched 
closely  about  the  edges  of  the 
jawbones. 


FIG.  40. — Curved  under  jaw  of  salmon. 

JAWS. 

The  most  expressive  feature  of  the  mouth  is  the 
jaws.     In  some  fishes  the  upper  jaw  can  move,  but 


JAW  OF  SALMON. 


83 


the  rule  here,  as  elsewhere,  is  that  most  of  the  motion 
is  in  the  lower  jaw. 


FIG.  41. — Bones  of  the  lower  jaw  of  salmon. 

It  is  by  the  "  set  of  the  jaws  "  that  expression  is 
so  frequently  given  to  fishes  as  well  as  to  people.  In 
the  pikes  the  lower  jaw  projects  with  a  sort  of  vicious 
look.  In  the  salmons  this  jaw,  at  the  spawning  sea- 


FIG.  42. — Trumpet  or  bellows  fish  (ILacrorliamphosns  scolopa). 

son,  grows  longer  in  the  males,  and  curls  up  into  the 
mouth.  It  may  be  that  the  male  thinks  that  this  makes 
him  look  pretty  ;  or  it  may  be  that  Nature  means  to 


84:  THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

strengthen  the  upper  jaw  as  he  "butts  his  rival.  Pos- 
sibly it  may  be  meant  simply  to  make  the  fish  appear 
frightful  as  it  opens  its  mouth  at  its  foes.  There  are 
many  such  terrifying  implements  in  Nature. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  boy  threaten  another  with  a 
forward  set  of  his  lower  jaw  ? 

Sometimes  the  two  jaws  combine  to  give  the  fish 
a  peculiar  expression  and  a  remarkable  form  of 
mouth.  Thus  in  the  garpike  (Fig.  31,  page  61)  of 
our  waters  they  both  project  far  forward,  almost  of 
the  same  length,  and  they  are  terribly  armed  with 
teeth  ;  while  in  the  saury  pike  of  Europe  the  lower 
jaw  is  the  longest,  and  the  two  when  closed  ap- 
pear much  like  the  beaks  of  some  birds.  Instances 
of  this  are  many.  In  the  pipefishes,  the  trumpet 


FIG.  43.— Swordfish  (Xiphias  gladius). 

fish,  and  some  others,  these  long  jaws  are  joined 
into  a  slim  tube,  with  a  very  small  opening  at  its 
end. 

In  many  cases  the  jaws  combine  to  form  a  sort  of 
parrot-like  beak  with  cutting  edges.  In  the  so-called 
parrot  wrasses  the  teeth  and  jaws  are  so  fused  to- 
gether as  to  make  a  beak  for  scraping  corals,  on 


SAWS  AND   SWORDS. 


85 


which  the  fish  feeds.     Many  others  have  parrot-like 
beaks. 

But  it  is  the  upper  jaw  that  usually  projects  the 
more,  and  gives,  as  in  the  swordfish  here  illustrated 
(Fig.  43)  and  sawfish,  so  much  to  shape  and  expres- 
sion. In  these  it  is  a  weapon,  as  it  is  in  many  others ; 


FIG.  44. — Sawfish  ;  profile  view,  upper ;    view  of  under  part,  lower 
(Pristis  pectinatus). 

but  in  the  paddlefish  it  seems  to  be  more  of  a 
spoon,  or  spade  rather,  with  which  to  stir  up  the 
bottom.  • 

More  of  this  will  come  up  under  WEAPONS  AND 
FEEDING  HABITS. 

Of  course,  every  external  part  of  a  fish  affects  its 
expression.  The  spines  of  the  globefish  and  porcu- 
pine fish  give  them  a  formidable  and  forbidding  look, 
and  the  expression  of  our  little  sunfish  is  made  more 
fierce  by  the  spines  in  the  fins. 

So  also  the  beauty  of  the  fish  is  improved  by  the 
graceful  cut  and  shape  of  the  fins,  as  noted,  and  the 
beautiful  and  orderly  arrangement  of  the  scales,  along 
with  their  splendid  luster  and  metallic  burnish. 

Aside   from   this,   yet   connected   with   it,   there 


86  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

comes,  to  help  a  fish  in  looking  its  best,  that  most 
ornamental  thing  in  all  Nature — 

COLOR. 

Fishes  rival  birds  and  butterflies  in  the  splendor 
of  their  colors.  So  many  scales  are  beautiful,  not 
because  they  are  stained,  but  because  they  reflect 
beautiful  tints,  as  do  mother-of-pearl,  soap-bubbles, 
glass  prisms,  etc.  Only  those  birds  whose  colors  are 
the  result  of  this  peculiar  kind  of  sheen  can  rival  the 
prettiest  fishes  in  beauty. 

There  is  no  need  to  attempt  to  describe  these.  It 
could  not  be  done  if  we  had  ever  so  much  space. 
Even  in  such  fishes  as  trout,  mackerel,  and  others, 
where  the  scales  are  not  in  sight,  the  colors  of  the 
skin  are  like  the  hues  of  the  rainbow ;  and  in  some 
cases  they  are  equally  variable  just  at  the  time  when 
the  fish  is  snatched  from  the  water,  so  that  they  can 
scarcely  be  painted  at  all. 

COLORS  IN  THE  DIFFERENT  SEXES. 

While  in  many  instances,  even  where  the  fish  is 
brilliant,  the  colors  are  the  same  in  both  sexes,  there 
are  many  others  in  which  the  male  is  the  brightest 
and  prettiest,  as  is  the  case  in  the  birds  and  insects. 
It  often  happens,  too,  that  this  pretty  dress  of  the  male 
is  put  on  only  at  the  spawning  season,  when  he  is 
very  anxious  to  make  a  good  appearance  before  his 
sweetheart.  These  colors,  therefore,  seem  intended 
to  help  the  wooer  to  win  his  mate  by  charming  her 
with  his  beauty. 


DISPLAY  OF  COLORS.  87 

Thus  he  may  be  seen  sometimes  showing  off  to 
her,  and  sometimes,  when  fighting  a  rival,  these  colors 
flare  up  beautifully,  as  if  they  were  meant  for  defy- 
ing or  taunting. 

The  Siamese  have  some  little  fighting  fishes  which, 
when  pitted  against  each  other,  fight  like  gamecocks. 
The  moment  they  begin  they  become  much  more 
brilliant.  This  may  be  due  to  any  struggle,  as  we 
noted  in  the  case  of  the  mackerels. 

We  shall  see  later  that  many  fish  can  change  their 
colors  by  the  will  when  they  choose. 

The  instances  where  the  males  are  colored  for 
charming  are  very  numerous,  but  the  salmon-like 
fishes,  the  pikes,  the  sticklebacks,  are  common  exam- 
ples. It  is  especially  apt  to  be  the  case  with  such 
fish  as  fight  for  their  wives,  and  the  beaten  rival  may 
be  said  to  "  lose  his  colors  "  literally  in  defeat. 

There  is  a  large  literature  bearing  on  this  subject 
(among  all  the  insects  and  higher  creatures),  some  of 
which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  you  may  read  when  you  are 
older,  for  it  furnishes  a  key  to  the  purpose  of  many 
of  the  pretty  things  in  Nature. 

It  may  be  well  just  here  to  note  some  other  queer 
ornaments  that  fishes  put  on  for  charming  purposes. 
Many  males  extend  certain  rays  of  the  fins  into  long 
needles  or  threadlike  filaments,  and  these  are  often 
beautifully  colored.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  family 
in  which  our  little  "shiners"  or  chubs  belong.  A 
very  noticeable  case  is  that  mentioned  by  Mr.  Dar- 
win, where  the  lowest  ray  of  the  tail -fin  is  thus  pro- 
longed away  out  behind. 


88  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

One  of  the  catfish  group  also  has  stiff  fringes, 
like  hair,  on  its  gill-covers,  so  that  it  really  appears 
as  if  it  had  a  beard.  One  of  the  male  Chimcems  or 
spook-fishes  has  a  horn  upon  the  head,  while  the 
female  has  none ;  but  this  may  be  a  weapon.  Many 
male  chubs,  as  noted,  have  the  heads  warty  at  the 
social  season,  and  smooth  the  rest  of  the  year. 

Returning  to  our  general  topic  of  the  colors  of 
the  body,  it  is  said  that  it  has  been  rather  recently 
proved  that  if,  in  aquariums,  the  light  be  thrown  up- 
ward, and  cut  off  from  above — reversing  the  conditions 
in  Nature— the  lower  part  of  the  fish,  which  is  usually 
light-colored,  begins  to  get  darker  and  the  upper  part 
becomes  lighter-colored.  This  would  seem  to  hint 
that  the  colors  of  the  fishes  are  due,  in  part,  to  the 
direct  effects  of  light — a  fact  that  has  been  denied. 
Many  fishes,  though  not  all,  in  caves  and  other  dark 
places  have  lost  their  color,  and  are  white  or  limpid; 
but  in  the  great  depths  of  the  ocean,  where  no  light 
comes,  the  fish  are  not  white  or  colorless  (like  clear 
water),  but  are  said  to  be  usually  pearly  or  black. 
Some  of  these  may  wish  to  hide,  hence  the  black  ;  and 
others,  as  the  lovers  we  have  been  talking  about,  may 
wish  to  be  seen,  and  these  pearl-colors  may  show  well 
in  their  faint,  fire-fly-like  light.  (See  Fig.  36,  page  74.) 

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 

We  have  seen  that  certain  fishes  may  glow  as  a 
firefly  (lightning-bug)  for  purposes  of  lighting  the 
way  or  luring  prey ;  but  in  this  topic  we  must 
notice  the  fact  that  their  light  is  probably  used,  at 


BURNING  OLD   CLOTHES.  89 

times,  as  an  ornament  or  advertisement.  We  are 
sure  that  this  is  the  use  made  of  it  by  fireflies  and 
glowworms. 

Many  ordinary  fish  have  a  tendency  to  show  phos- 
phorescent light,  especially  when  they  are  decaying. 
This,  it  is  said,  is  because  they  have  so  much  of  the 
substance  called  phosphorus  (which  you  see  on  the 
ends  of  matches)  in  their  flesh.  From  the  way  this 
substance  behaves  in  the  air,  we  know  that,  as  it 
glows,  it  is  slowly  burning,  producing  light  without 
heat.  While  we  do  not  understand  it,  we  know  also 
that  fireflies,  glowworms,  etc.,  produce  light  with 
scarcely  any  heat ;  but  when  we  human  folk  get  light 
we  must  heat  some  substance  very  much  before  it 
glows. 

It  appears  that  many  fishes — especially  the  deep- 
sea  kinds — have  found  a  way  of  slowly  burning  their 
old  worn-out  skin,  and  their  mucus,  so  as-  to  make  a 
light.  In  others,  as  we  have  noticed,  there  may  be 
special  fatty  places  that  glow.  In  either  case  the 
glow  may  be  as  much  for  ornament  as  for  use,  since 
some  half-civilized  belles  wear  brilliant  fireflies  in 
their  hair,  and  some  rather  civilized  boys  wear  elec- 
tric lights  in  their  scarf-pins.  We  value  diamonds, 
opals,  and  other  gerns  because  they  sparkle  ;  and  it  is 
noticeable  that  we  wear  these  things  so  that  they  may 
sparkle  in  others'  eyes  rather  than  in  our  own. 

The  habit  is  an  expensive  one  for  us,  but  fishes 
seem  to  get  quite  as  much  glory  out  of  their  old 
clothes  by  burning  them,  and,  to  reverse  a  Biblical 
expression,  really  put  on  ashes  for  beauty. 


90  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

As  we  have  seen,  however,  they  may  have  cer- 
tain spots  where  new  matter  is  consumed ;  and  in 
these  cases  at  least,  and  in  the  special  lantern-like  bar- 
bels, the  fish  must  be  alive  to  keep  the  light  going. 
This  light  soon  ceases  in  a  dead  fish. 

Two  of  the  head -fish,  the  salt-water  sunfish  and 
the  moonfish,  are  said  to  be  so  called  because  the 
great  body  of  the  first  named  and  the  smaller  body  of 
the  latter  glow  in  the  dark,  like  luminous  disks  in 
the  water. 

Something  more  of  how  a  fish  makes  itself  agree- 
able will  be  noted  under  the  topics,  Nests,  tihoaling, 
and  Care  of  Young. 


FIG.  45. — Silver  moonfish  or  lookdown  (Selene  argentia). 


TALK  IX. 

How  a  fish  escapes  from  its  foes  and  slips  through  life  rather 
easily ;  or  protective  colors,  means  of  escape,  and  mucus. 

BEFORE  leaving  the  topic  of  colors,  it  is  best 
to  mention  those  that  seem  to  help  the  fish  hide  it- 
self. They  are  called  protective  colors  usually,  be- 
cause they  protect  the  fish  from  being  seen  by  its 
enemies. 

It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  all  the  colors  of  a 
fish  are  useful  to  it.  Some  may  result  from  the  pe- 
culiar kind  of  growing  or  decaying  skin  it  has,  or 
from  the  kind  of  food  it  has  eaten.  The  flesh  of  the 
salmon  is  said  to  be  colored  by  the  color  of  its  food. 
But  there  are  many  cases  where  we  can  easily  see 
that  the  colors  and  color-markings  are  of  great  use, 
since  they  blend  so  well  with  the  colors  of  the  place 
where  the  fish  usually  swims  or  lies. 

Generally  speaking,  fish  are  all  darker  on  top  and 
lighter  on  the  bottom.  The  color  of  the  back  is  usu- 
ally much  like  that  of  the  grasses  and  other  matter  on 
the  bottom,  or  like  the  deep  shadows  that  He  over 
pools.  An  enemy,  in  looking  down,  can  scarcely 
see  the  fish  for  these,  and  if  it  glide  beneath  the  fish, 
the  white  under  parts  of  the  latter  are  not  unlike  the 
sky  seen  out  through  the  water.  Hence  this  ar- 
8  91 


92  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

rangement  of  colors,  as  well  as  the  colors  them- 
selves, is  helpful.  Here,  then,  is  a  reason  why  the 
under  parts  of  fishes  are  generally  lighter  than  the 
upper  parts. 

But  there  is  another  reason,  and  this  applies  to 
birds  and  beasts  also.  If  an  enemy  be  looking  neither 
from  above  nor  below,  but  on  a  leveJ  with  his  eyes,  at 
a  creature  so  colored,  the  latter  will  not  be  so  easily 
seen  as  if  it  were  colored  alike  all  over.  Since  the 
light  always  comes  from  above,  the  dark  top  of  the 
fish  is  the  better  lighted  and  does  not  appear  so  much 
like  a  black  blotch ;  and  the  under  side  is  poorly 
lighted,  but,  being  brighter,  is  perhaps  as  easily 
seen,  though  it  is  in  the  shadow,  and  hence  does  not 
appear  as  a  light  blotch.  These  colors  are  so  graded 
into  each  other  that  they  make  the  fish  seem  of 
about  the  same  shade  of  color  all  over,  and  it  appears 
flat,  not  round  and  solid,  to  its  foe ;  and  may  be  not 
seen  at  all  if  it  keep  still.  It  has  by  this  arrangement 
of  colors  killed  the  effects  of  that  light  and  shade 
which  make  things  look  solid.  This  is  the  reason 
that  we  can  not  see  the  squatting  quail,  woodcock, 
or  hare  easily.  It  appears  as  a  mere  flat  spot  upon 
the  grass  or  leaves,  and  does  not  stand  out  at  all  as  a 
rounded  body.  If  these  birds  were  colored  all  over 
alike,  they  would  be  much  more  readily  seen. 

You  can,  by  a  very  simple  experiment,  convince 
yourself  of  the  truth  of  this.  Make  two  rolls  of 
mud  or  clay  and  dry  them.  Paint  or  chalk  the  un- 
der side  of  one  whitish,  gradually  shading  off  fainter 
up  to  the  middle.  Leave  the  other  plain,  and  lay 


ESCAPE   BY  COLOR.  93 

both  on  the  same  mud  or  soil  from  which  they  were 
made.  Step  slowly  away,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
unpainted  one  can  long  be  seen,  but  that  at  a  short 
distance  the  painted  one  has  disappeared  from  view. 

This  interesting  discovery  was  made  recently  by 
an  American  artist,  Mr.  Abbot  H.  Thayer,  to  whom 
due  credit  should  be  given.  It  furnishes  a  key  to 
the  location  of  much  of  the  shading  in  animals. 

Besides  simply  having  the  colors  solid  and  like 
the  bottom  of  the  stream  in  which  they  swim,  you 
will  find  many  fishes  with  fainter  and  deeper  colors 
running  variously  across  or  along  the  body.  When 
among  grass  and  the  reflections  of  stems,  etc.,  in  the 
water,  such  markings  are  doubtless  very  helpful  in 
hiding.  This  sort  of  coloring  and  arrangement  of 
colors  is  found  in  a  great  many  kinds  of  fishes.  The 
common  barred  perch  is  a  familiar  example. 

A  similar  use  of  colors  may  be  seen  in  fishes 
when  they  wish  to  hide  from  their  prey  as  well  as 
from  their  enemies.  A  striking  instance  of  this  oc- 
curs in  the  flatfishes,  which  lie  on  the  bottom  waiting 
for  some  luckless  thing  to  swim  over  them.  This 
can  be  observed  in  almost  any  public  aquarium.  As 
a  flounder  lies  flat  on  its  side,  with  its  wing-like  verti- 
cal fins  flattened  out  and  their  edges  pushed  a  little 
way  under  the  sand,  the  coloring  of  the  upper  side  is 
like  that  of  the  bottom.  Even  the  warts  and  pimples 
upon  the  rough  skin  seem  to  be  for  the  purpose  of 
imitating  grains  of  sand  and  small  pebbles,  and  have 
all  the  pretty  colors  and  shadings  of  the  little  stones. 
The  effect  is  like  that  which  we  see  on  the  stage  in 


94  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

theaters  and  panoramas,  in  which  it  is  hard  to  tell 
where  the  real  objects  cease  and  the  painted  ones 
begin. 

Likewise  many  fishes  are  protected  by  filaments 
or  barbels  which  so  much  resemble  in  shape  the  bot- 
tom grasses,  weeds,  etc.,  that  the  distinction  is  not 
easily  made.  Thus  in  some  these  strings  end  in  at 
least  two  flat,  thin  disks,  that  resemble  the  roundish 
leaves  of  certain  plants  near  by.  In  other  instances 
the  filaments  are  colored  in  bands  of  brown  and 
orange,  in  almost  exact  imitation  of  the  seaweed  on 
or  in  which  the  creature  lives. 

Many  of  the  colors  of  which  we  have  been  talk- 
ing are  permanent,  but  some  fishes,  like  certain  frogs, 
the  chameleons,  and  other  reptiles,  have  the  power  of 
changing  their  colors,  within  certain  limits,  to  suit  the 
color  of  the  material  on  or  among  which  they  may 
rest.  This,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  creatures,  is 
done  by  means  of  sight ;  for  if  the  fish  be  blind  there 
is  no  change,  no  matter  what  colors  are  about  it. 

This  power  is  not  confined  to  any  one  family  of 
fishes,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that  more  fishes  pos- 
sess it  than  we  yet  know  of.  The  gobies,  pipe-fishes, 
some  sticklebacks,  and  some  flatfishes — especially  the 
plaice — can,  in  a  few  moments,  make  their  complex- 
ions suit  their  surroundings. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  other  fish  have 
some  sort  of  slower  control  over  their  color.  The 
author  has  found  the  same  species  of  mountain  trout 
much  unlike  in  color  in  differently  shadowed  pools  of 
the  same  creek ;  and  in  different  but  connecting 


FLYING  FISHES.  95 

streams  there  can  be  seen  more  or  less  changes  in  the 
shades  of  the  fishes'  backs. 

ESCAPE. 

Of  course,  fishes  escape  their  enemies  by  other 
means  than  hiding,  and  they  hide  more  directly  than 
by  merely  resembling  something  about  them.  Many 
bury  themselves  quickly  in  the  sand  or  mud.  Our 
little  chubs  of  the  branches  are  said  thus  to  hustle 
themselves  out  of  sight  tail  first  when  frightened. 
This  is  also  true  of  the  cusk,  which  hides  in  the  sand. 

Others  dive  quickly  under  rocks,  or  dart  among 
weeds,  brush,  or  into  shallow  places.  As  a  fish  grows 
large  it  gets  wiser  and  is  very  much  afraid  of  shallow 
water,  because  this  exposes  it  to  its  enemies  on  land 
or  in  the  air.  Little  fishes,  therefore,  that  are  apt  to 
be  swallowed  by  the  larger  ones,  feel  safer  in  shallow 
inlets  or  ripples  where  their  foes  can  not  come ;  and 
hence  they  are  so  often  seen  there.  Therefore  in  our 
streams  large  fish  are  found  in  deep  water. 

But  other  fishes  depend  for  safety  upon  their 
speed  and  dodging  tactics,  as  the  hare  escapes  the 
hound.  Many  interesting  habits  are  here  observed, 
especially  in  the  ocean,  where  shoals  of  one  kind  pur- 
sue shoals  of  another  kind  of  fish. 

Our  space  permits  the  mention  only  of  that  most 
interesting  and  well-known  example  practiced  by  the 
so-called  flying  fishes.  (See  Fig.  25,  page  49.) 

When  pursued  by  a  foe  or  otherwise  frightened, 
perhaps  by  a  vessel  (which  they  doubtless  think  is  some- 
thing terrible),  they  rush  toward  the  surface  with  such 


96  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

speed  that  they  are  projected  as  an  arrow  into  the  air, 
where  they  sail  by  their  broad,  long,  wing-like  pec- 
torals, much  as  a  bird  may  do  with  half -closed  wings. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  among  observers 
about  how  these  fishes  fly,  but  it  is  rather  generally 
agreed  that  while  the  fins  seem  to  be  moving  as  they 
go,  the  flight  is  not  by  means  of  flapping.  The  mo- 
tion seen  in  the  fins  may  be  merely  a  fluttering  made 
by  the  passing  air,  as  is  that  of  a  flag  in  a  breeze. 

Their  flight  may  be  as  much  as  the  eighth  of  a 
mile  or  more,  though  it  is  often  much  shorter,  de- 
pending on  the  force  of  the  start  in  the  water,  perhaps, 
and  upon  the  condition  of  the  wind.  As  with  all  sail- 
ing creatures,  it  may  be  longer  against  the  wind  than 
with  it. 

At  times  flying  fish  are  seen  to  dip  into  the  crest 
of  a  wave,  when  the  sea  is  rough,  and  by  the  rapid 
use  of  the  tail  get  a  new  start.  Usually  the  flight  is 
not  above  three  or  four  feet  from  the  surface,  but  it 
may  rise  to  fifteen  or  twenty.  It  is  said  to  be  higher 
at  night  than  in  the  daytime. 

It  is  a  matter  of  much  dispute  whether  these  fish 
can  turn  in  the  air  or  not.  The  most  trustworthy 
observers  seem  to  think  that  their  course  is  changed 
only  by  the  wind  blowing  them.  They  can  rise  and 
fall  a  little  at  will. 

Besides  the  true  flying  fishes  found  in  our  Amer- 
ican waters,  there  is  one,  a  species  of  which  is  also 
found  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  called  the  flying 
gurnard,  which  also  flies  fairly  well.  It  is  akin  to  the 
sea-robin.  (See  Fig.  25,  page  49.) 


MUCUS.  97 

The  true  flying  fishes  are  closely  allied  to  the  bill- 
fishes,  which  have  very  long,  slender  beaks.  When 
young  they  have  two  little  barbels  beneath  the  lower 
jaw,  which  may  possibly  hint  how  much  these  little 
fishes  have  risen  in  the  world — from  bottom  feeders 
to  fliers. 

Many  other  fishes  skip  some  distance  out  of  the 
water  when  pursued,  often  throwing  themselves  far 
out  on  the  shore. 

Mucus. 

While  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  fish  slips 
through  the  water  more  easily  because  its  whole  body 
is  slimy,  it  is  equally  probable  that  it  sometimes  slips 
out  of  an  enemy's  grasp  by  the  same  means. 

The  topic  therefore  is  not  out  of  place  here.  Be- 
sides this,  the  mucus  of  some  fishes  is  disagreeable,  if 
not  poisonous. 

Mucus  of  fishes  seems  to  be  a  secretion  from  the 
inside  largely,  which  comes  out  through  small  open- 
ings all  over  the  body.  Some  students,  as  has  been 
mentioned,  believe  that  the  worn-out  skin  of  fishes  be- 
comes slime,  and  helps  to  keep  the  body  slippery.  We 
know  that  many  parts  of  a  fish  can  be  used  in  making 
glue,  especially  the  air  bladder. 

But  along  the  sides  of  most  fishes  there  is  a  dis- 
tinct line  known  as  the  lateral  line,  which  when  ex- 
amined closely  is  seen  to  consist  of  a  series  of  small 
holes  or  pores.  These  open  through  the  scales. 
Sometimes  around  these  pores  the  scales  rise  up  into 
high,  horny,  or  pearly  points  or  ridges,  which  make 


98  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

the  line  quite  noticeable.  Usually  there  is  only  one 
of  these  lines,  but  there  may  be  more.  They  may  run 
only  part  way  of  the  fish,  or  all  the  way  from  head  to 
tail.  In  some  fishes  the  line  runs  entirely  out  upon 
the  tail  fin.  In  all  these  cases  it  is  very  helpful  in 
describing  and  knowing  the  different  fishes.  (See  Fig. 
16,  page  32.)  In  many,  however,  it  is  absent  alto- 
gether. 

As  already  noticed,  the  lateral  line  is  very  bounti- 
fully supplied  with  nerves  beneath,  and  it  is  thought 
by  many  students  that  it  may  be  some  sort  of  sense 
organ.  This,  it  is  very  likely,  is  true.  The  lateral 
line  is  found  in  some  of  the  amphibians,  creatures 
higher  in  the  scale  of  living  beings  than  are  fishes. 
Below  the  fish  nearly  every  creature  is  slimy.  ,J 

Deep-sea  fishes  have  much  more  mucus  than  sur- 
face fishes,  and  in  them  the  lateral  line  is  very  wide, 
showing  its  evident  connection  with  mucus.  In  many 
of  these  the  mucus  is  phosphorescent. 

Some  fishes  have  much  more  mucus  than  others. 
Those,  usually,  that  have  the  most  can  live  longest 
out  of  water.  Eels  and  all  the  low  forms  of.  the  bony 
fishes  are  very  slimy,  especially  the  catfishes. 

Perhaps  in  keeping  with  our  general  topic  of  how 
a  fish  escapes  its  foes,  there  is  no  more  striking  ex- 
ample of  the  use  of  mucus  to  baffle  an  enemy  than 
that  of  the  hagfish.  It  is  able  to  pour  out  a  thick 
fluid,  through  certain  holes  in  its  skin,  so  rapidly 
that  the  water  all  around  is  made  into  a  sort  of  jelly 
and  the  creature  is  hidden.  If  one  of  these  fish  be 
placed  in  a  bucket  of  water  and  then  be  irritated 


THE  LATERAL   LINE.  99 

or  frightened,  it  will  quickly  convert  all  the  water 
into  a  jelly  nearly  as  solid  as  that  usually  made  for, 
the  table. 

In  many  cases  the  lateral  line  is  crooked  or  wavy, 
showing  how  the  fish  has  recently  changed  its  shape 
by  enlarging  some  part  of  its  body.  In  our  little 
sunfish  you  can  see  how  the  body  has  been  widened 
upward  rather  than  downward,  and  that  its  fore- 
fathers were  once  round,  slim  fishes,  having,  as  is 
usual  in  such  fishes,  the  line  running  straight  along 
the  side  (see  Fig.  1,  page  2).  It  is  said  that  in  such 
fishes  as  do  not  have  this  line  there  are  no  special 
nerves  in  the  region. 

AKMOK,  SPINES,  ETC. 

Of  course,  a  fish  escapes  its  foes  to  some  extent  by 
means  of  scales,  tough  skin,  and  especially  by  bony 
armor  when  present ;  but  they  have  been  discussed 
in  Talk  VII  along  with  the  skin,  to  which  they  are 
so  closely  connected. 

A  fish  is  likewise  protected  by  various  spines,  as 
many  an  angler  has  learned  when  trying  vainly  to 
tempt  some  old  bass  to  bite  at  a  little  spiny  sunfish. 

But  all  these  things  more  properly  come  under 
the  next  talk — about  WEAPONS. 


TALK  X. 

How  a  fish  fights  its  foes  and  makes  itself  disagreeable  generally ; 
or  weapons,  electric  organs,  and  poisons. 

WE  have  been  speaking  of  how  a  fish  escapes  its 
foes,  but  have  said  little  about  how  it  may  defend 
itself.  There  was  just  a  hint  that  the  mucus  of  some 
fishes  was  disagreeable  and  that  spines  were  likewise 
offensive.  This  brings  us  to  weapons  which  may  be 
used  either  in  defense  of  self  or  young,  or  in  the 
pursuit  and  destruction  of  prey.  They  are  therefore 
known  as  offensive  or  defensive  weapons,  but  the 
same  instrument  may  have  both  uses. 

Few  classes  of  creatures  have  more  kinds  of 
weapons  than  fishes,  or  more  ways  of  being  disagree- 
able. 

The  first  weapon  is  the  mouth,  usually  with  its  ar- 
ray of  teeth,  though  all  fish  do  not  have  teeth.  But 
this  weapon  is  not  new,  for  from  the  earliest  creatures 
the  mouth  has  always  been  the  means  of  securing 
prey.  To  swallow  an  enemy  was  thought  to  be  the 
easiest  way  of  getting  rid  of  him,  and  gave  a  double 
enjoyment,  satisfying  both  anger  and  appetite. 

Eeally,  we  might  say  that  the  stomach  was  the 

first   weapon   in    Nature,   for   the    lowest    creatures 

known  have  no  mouths,  but,  being  liquid,  jelly-like 

animals,  literally  flow  around  their  prey  and  digest  it. 

100 


TEETH  AS  WEAPONS.  ,  1Q1  r 

The  teeth  of  fishes,  with  possibly  a  few  excep- 
tions, are  set  for  seizing  and  holding  prey.  Some, 
set  far  back  in  the  throat,  are  pointed  or  hooked 
backward,  and  are  intended  to  aid  in  swallowing.  In 
such  fishes  as  do  not  capture  fleeing  things,  the  teeth 
are  often  arranged  in  pavements,  like  stones  in  the 
streets,  or  they  may  be  fused  into  plates  which  are 
used  merely  for  crushing.  Many  others,  especially 
those  of  the  sharks,  are  lancelike  and  are  evidently 
intended  for  cutting  up  creatures  too  large  to  swallow 
whole.  Many  fishes,  as  the  eels,  can  bite  out  pieces 
of  flesh  clean  at  a  snap. 

The  other  special  form  of  weapon  about  the 
mouth  is  usually  found  in  the  projection  of  the  jaws. 
We  have  noticed  the  case  of  the  lower  jaw  in  the 
male  salmon  growing  very  long  and  curling  up  and 
back  till,  when  the  mouth  is  closed,  it  rests  in  a 
groove  of  the  upper  jaw  (see  Fig.  40,  page  82).  This 
may  be  intended  to  strengthen  or  stiffen  the  upper 
jaw,  for  these  fishes  and  many  others  fight,  somewhat 
as  sheep  do,  by  charging  at  each  other  and  ramming 
their  snouts  together,  or,  if  possible,  butting  into  each 
other's  ribs. 

Now  this  is  a  kind  of  weapon  that  seems  intended 
to  use  on  a  rival  only — a  member  of  the  same  family 
—if,  indeed,  it  is  a  weapon  at  all,  and  not  an  orna- 
ment. If  we  were  carefully  classifying  weapons,  we 
might  distinguish  this  kind  as  belonging  to  those  that 
are  put  on  at  the  time  of  rivalry  and  shed  when  the 
season  is  over,  as  is  the  case  with  this  salmon's  jaw 
and  the  horns  of  deer,  etc. 


10-4  TIIK   STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

But  such  terrible  weapons  as  the  jaws  of  the  sword- 
fish  and  sawfish  (see  Fig.  44,  page  85)  seem  to  be  in- 
tended for  use  against  large  enemies  belonging  to 
other  tribes  than  the  weapon  bearers,  the  whale  and 
others,  where  deep  lancing  is  necessary  to  kill.  The 
sawfish  uses  its  saw  as  a  butcher's  tool,  as  well  as  a 
weapon,  for  with  its  help  it  rips  open  the  bodies  of 
its  victims  at  a  stroke,  and  is  thus  able,  if  it  chooses, 
to  devour  the  entrails  only. 

The  weapon  of  the  swordfish  is  a  terrific  blade, 
and  has  been  driven  through  the  copper  sheathing  of 
ships  and  as  much  as  fifteen  inches  of  solid  wood 
beyond.  Men  sitting  in  small  boats  are  sometimes 
killed  by  this  monster  as  it  thrusts  its  sword  up 
through  the  bottom  and  pierces  their  bodies.  Its 
great  swimming  powers  have  already  been  noticed ; 
we  may  infer  them  from  its  form. 

While  speaking  of  these  charging  or  butting  fishes, 
we  might  say  that  some  of  the  rays  appear  to  have 
horns ;  but  since  these  creatures  are  not  capable  of 
speed  and  are  very  lazy,  it  is  likely  that  these  instru- 
ments are  used  as  fingers  to  help  them  get  their  food 
into  their  mouths.  They  seem  to  have  been  formed 
from  part  of  the  pectoral  fins  which,  as  we  saw,  have 
in  some  of  these  creatures  run  even  beyond  the  head. 

The  great  rays,  known  as  "devil-fish/'  which  are 
found  sometimes  as  large  as  fifteen  by  twenty  feet, 
may  strike,  when  swimming,  terrible  blows  with  these 
fins,  thereby  killing  great  sharks  which  attack  them. 
The  wings  of  birds,  it  is  well  known,  are  very  effect- 
ive weapons,  and  are  sometimes  armed  with  spurs. 


THE  DEVIL-FISH.  103 

In  the  smaller  rays  and  in  the  flatfishes  a  very 
good  defense  is  found  in  their  shape.  When  a  tur- 
bot  is  flattened  on  the  bottom  with  its  continuous 
row  of  spines  spread  out  all  around  it,  there  is  very 
little  of  the  fish  at  which  an  enemy  can  bite  except 
the  flat,  leathery,  warty  upper  side  (see  Fig.  11, 
page  2-1).  Besides  this,  these  fish  have  the  power  of 
fastening  themselves  to  the  bottom  by  pressing  out 
all  the  water  from  between  them  and  the  surface 
upon  which  they  rest,  to  which  they  stick  so  tightly 
as  not  to  be  easily  loosened.  In  something  the  same 
manner  boys  fasten  their  circular  suckers  to  the  pave- 
ment by  forcing  the  air  out  from  between  the  well- 
soaked  leather  disk  and  whatever  surface  it  is  placed 
upon. 

Sailors  shorten  their  ropes  very  quickly  after 
striking  the  devil-fish  with  a  harpoon ;  for  if  it  once 
gets  thus  sucked  down  to  the  bottom  they  are  often 
unable  to  raise  it,  even  after  it  is  dead. 

The  unicorn  fish  is  peculiar  in  that  it  has  a  single 
long  horn  extending  from  the  tip  of  the  snout,  run- 
ning upward  and  bending  backward.  This  horn  is 
said  to  be  made  out  of  the  spine  in  front  of  the  dor- 
sal fin,  and  is  not  a  part  of  the  jaw  at  all. 

The  use  of  this  implement  can  only  be  guessed  at. 
It  may  be  a  weapon,  used,  somewhat  as  the  rhinoceros 
uses  his  horn,  by  striking  it  upward  under  the  tender 
parts  of  an  enemy  ;  or  it  may  be  a  terrifying  instru- 
ment only.  In  caterpillars  there  are  many  of  these 
horns,  that  are  used  merely  to  make  the  creature  look 
terrible,  and  thus  frighten  off  an  enemy.  Bluff  is 


FIG.  46. — Common  sculpin  ( Cottus  octodecimspinosus),  upper  ;  Green- 
laud  sculpin   (Cottus  groenlandicus),  lower. 


SPINES  AS  WEAPONS.  105 

something  animals  as  well  as  boys,  men,  and  even 
nations,  often  depend  upon  to  gain  their  ends.  Per- 
haps the  use  of  this  horn  is  to  prevent  the  possibility 
of  being  swallowed  "  head-on  "  by  some  larger  foe. 

In  many  cases,  spines,  besides  being  sharp  and 
thorny  in  the  fins,  are  developed  into  great  daggers, 
sometimes  with  sharp  edges  like  knives. 


FIG.    47. — Sea  porcupine    (Diodon    maculata),  upper ;   the  swellfish, 
globefish,  or  burr  fish  (Chylomycterus  geometricus),  lower. 

In  such  cases  the  film  that  forms  the  fin  is  gone  ; 
the  spine,  merely  as  a  weapon,  is  left  standing  alone. 
In  some  sticklebacks  there  are  several  of  these  purely 
defensive  or  offensive  spines. 

Spines  as  means  of  defense  are  not  confined  to 
the  fins  only.  We  have  seen  how  they  may  spring 
from  the  scales  or  be  rooted  in  the  flesh.  A  great 
many  fishes  have  them  about  the  gill-covers  and  bones 


106 


THE  STOHY   OF   THE  FISHES. 


of  the  head  and  lower  jaws,  as,  for  instance,  the  scul- 
pins  (see  Fig.  46,  page  104) ;  while  others,  as  the 
porcupine  fish,  globefish,  have  them  all  over  the  body 
(see  Fig.  47,  page  105). 

At  the  other  end  of  the  fish,  the  tail  is  often  a 
weapon  itself,  or  carries  one  or  more  upon  it.     The 


FIG.  48. — Fox-shark  or  thresher  (Alopius  vulpes). 

fox-shark  (Fig.  48)  is  called  the  thresher,  because  it  is 
said  to  thresh  its  enemies  with  its  tail.  Sailors  say  that 
it  leaps  into  the  air  and  strikes  the  whale  such  terrible 
blows  that  death  is  caused  when  they  are  oft  repeated. 
This  fish  is  said  to  use  its  tail  as  a  scaring  or  terrify- 
ing device.  It  threshes  the  water  till  it  foams,  and 


TAILS  AND   POISON  STINGS.  107 

the  blows  make  great  smacking  sounds  which  frighten 
smaller  fishes  until  they  become  confused,  crowd  to- 
gether, and  are  easily  caught. 

There  is  a  family  of  fishes  called  the  surgeons, 
because  on  the  sides  of  the  tail  they  have  a  sort  of 
lance-shaped  spine  with  which  they  can  cut  an  enemy 
as  they  swim  past  it. 

Likewise  the  rays  (not  the  skates)  have  often 
many  spines  upon  their  slim  tails,  which  they  may 
strike  into  either  their  prey  or  their  foes. 

Bathers  are  frequently  sorely  wounded  by  the  spines 
of  fishes,  especially  by  those  of  the  sting-ray.  In  many 
cases  the  spines  are  barbed  or  are  notched  with  teeth 
set  pointing  away  from  the  tip,  so  that  they  are  hard 
to  pull  out  and  make  a  ragged  wound.  This  would 
imply  that,  quite  likely,  these  creatures  pierce  small 
fish  and  other  things  that  swim  near  them,  since  these 
barbs  are  set  backward  so  as  to  hold  in  well  or  wound 
badly,  as  a  fishhook  or  a  harpoon.  But  some  catfishes 
also  have  these  notched  spines  in  the  pectoral  fins, 
where  their  use  seems  to  be  purely  defensive. 

The  spine  of  the  sting-ray  reminds  us  of  another 
way  which  fishes  have  of  being  very  disagreeable. 
Some  of  these  rays  make  wounds  that  sting  a  long 
time  after  the  puncture  is  made. 

Many  fishes  have  a  poisonous  slime  or  mucus  which 
constantly  flows  over  the  spines,  so  that  when  they 
are  thrust  into  the  flesh  they  are  very  painful.  The 
spines  of  our  common  catfish,  of  the  inland  creeks, 
have  this  effect  to  some  extent.  In  fact,  the  mucus 
of  all  fish  is  perhaps  slightly  poisonous. 
9 


108  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

Although  in  this  case  the  spine  does  not  seem  un- 
usual in  shape,  there  are  in  other  fish  found  various 
modifications  of  form  that  fit  the  spine  for  a  poison 
ing  instrument. 

Thus  there  is  a  family  known  as  Scorpanoids  (be- 
cause of  their  venomous  sting)  which  have  spines 
covered  on  each  side  with  a  little  poison  sac,  placed 
near  the  tip.  When  the  spine  is  thrust  in,  the  sacs 
remain  closed,  for  they  open  toward  the  tip  ;  but 
as  it  is  extracted  the  poison  is  stripped  away  and  left 
in  the  wound.  Beyond  the  sacs  are  small  grooves, 
down  which  the  poison  flows. 

This  sort  of  groove  is  found  in  the  fangs  of  some 
serpents  also. 

In  other  fishes  there  are  found  spines  which  are 
hollow  tubes,  with  poison  sacs  at  the  base.  In  this 
case  the  poison  is  pressed  through  the  tube  as  the 
spine  is  thrust  in.  These  correspond  to  the  hollow 
fangs  of  serpents,  which  have  become  tubular  by  hav- 
ing the  edges  of  the  grooves  folded  in,  as  one  may  see 
by  studying  the  tooth  or  fang  when  cut  squarely 
across. 

One  of  these  fishes,  called  Thallassopliryne^  is 
found  on  the  Pacific  side  of  Central  America.  It 
belongs  to  that  peculiar  family  known  as  the  frog- 
fishes,  near  which  is  the  angler  or  fishing  frog. 

In  this  case  the  fish  is  a  bottom  haunter,  and  while 
the  poisonous  spines  on  the  back  seem  purely  defen- 
sive, it  has  similar  spines,  which  are  not  so,  on  the 
gill-covers.  It  may  be  that  by  bending  the  body  and 
throwing  the  head  around  suddenly,  these  latter  can  be 


FIG.  49. — Shanny  (Blennius  pholis),  upper;  weever  ( Trachinus  draco), 
lower. 


HO  THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

used  in  direct  attack — perhaps  to  paralyze  passing 
prey,  as  some  snakes  are  known  to  do.  The  poison 
from  this  fish  is  said  to  be  as  deadly  as  that  of  the 
most  poisonous  reptiles. 

Usually  poisonous  creatures  tend  to  develop  more 
fully  under  the  tropics  ;  and  a  safe  plan  in  this  region 
is  not  to  wade  in  waters  barefooted. 

The  great  weever  (Fig.  49) — sometimes  called  sea- 
cat — has  also  poisonous  spines  upon  its  gill -covers. 

The  most  remarkable  weapons  that  fishes  have 
are  those  peculiar  organs,  or  fleshy  batteries,  whereby 
an  electric  shock  can  be  given  to  an  enemy  or  prey. 
Nowhere  else  in  Nature  is  such  a  means  of  being- 
disagreeable  found. 

It  does  not  seem  improbable  that  some  other 
creatures  might  have  it,  since  it  is  found  among  the 
fishes  in  such  widely  separated  families  as  rays,  cat- 
fishes,  possibly  in  some  of  the  kinsfolk  of  the  globe- 
fish,  and  most  notably  in  a  so-called  eel.  The  bat- 
teries also  in  these  various  fishes  differ  very  much  in 
structure,  in  location,  and  in  the  sort  of  old  material 
out  of  which  they  are  made.  Nature  was  building 
batteries  out  of  scraps  of  waste  material  long  before 
man  existed. 

In  all  these  peculiar  organs  there  is  much  the 
same  thing  in  one  respect,  in  that  all  seem  to  have  a 
great  number  of  little  cells  filled  with  plates  im- 
mersed in  a  jelly-like  substance.  This  last  seems  to 
be  the  exciting  fluid.  The  plates  are  vertical  in  one 
fish  and  horizontal  in  another. 

But,  while  the   organ  is  necessary  to  the  shock, 


ELECTRIC  FISHES.  HI 

it  can  have  no  action,  it  seems,  without  the  aid  of  the 
fish's  nervous  system,  for  large  nerves  run  to  it,  and 
if  these  be  cut  no  shock  can  be  given.  The  current, 
therefore,  is  under  control  of  the  fish. 

The  current  from  some  of  these  organs  is  very 
severe,  and  it  might  seem  as  if  it  were  made  so  by 
the  great  number  of  cells  being  connected  in  series, 
though  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  of  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  connected.  To  such  little  read- 
ers as  have  played  with  electric  batteries,  the  pierc- 
ing voltage  would  seem  very  naturally  to  be  made 
in  this  way,  since  the  current  has  been  shown  to 
have  the  same  effect  as  that  from  a  galvanic  bat- 
tery. 

The  shock  from  the  most  powerful  of  electric 
fishes,  as  the  electric  eel  of  South  America,  is  suffi- 
cient to  stun  a  man,  or  even  larger  animals,  and  it 
may  be  used  either  to  take  prey  or  defend  the  fish. 
All  these  fishes  are  naked -skinned,  so  that  good  con- 
tact may  be  made. 

In  all  these  electric  fishes  some  sort  of  contact 
seems  necessary,  though  this  may  be  made  through 
a  good  conductor.  In  the  electric  ray,  or  torpedo, 
the  top  of  the  body  is  said  to  be  positive  and  the  bot- 
tom negative.  Of  course,  one  hand  on  the  top  and 
the  other  on  the  bottom  gets  a  shock  ;  so  one  foot 
on  the  fish  and  the  other  on  the  bottom  of  the  ocean 
receives  the  current,  because  the  underside  of  the 
fish  is  "  grounded."  But  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  the 
current  does  not  run  right  around  the  fish  (short  cir- 
cuit) in  the  water. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 


It  is  said  that  a  man  directing  a  stream  of 
water  from  a  hose  upon  a  torpedo  got  a  severe 
shock. 

The  electric  eel — so  called,  for  it  is  not  a  true  eel 
— is  said  to  give  its  shock  by  touching  both  its  head 
and  tail  upon  different  points  of  its  victim's  body. 


FIG.  50. — Torpedo  (Narcacion  marmorata). 

A  great  shock  can  be  had  from  the  captured  fish  by 
touching  it  at  these  different  points — one  with  each 
hand  at  the  same  time.  Possibly  in  the  water  a  touch 
at  a  single  point  would  answer,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  torpedo. 


SOME  POISONOUS  FISHES.  113 

It  is  said  that  the  electric  catfish  can  shock  by  the 
mere  touch  of  its  nose,  though  its  current  is  not 
nearly  so  strong  as  that  of  the  others. 

Besides  these  means  of  being  disagreeable,  there 
are  many  fishes  whose  flesh  is  poisonous — at  least  to 
man.  It  is  doubtful  if  this  is  really  intentional  on 
the  part  of  the  fish  or  Nature,  and  it  may  be  no  pro- 
tection at  all  to  its  natural  enemies. 

Man,  you  know,  is  not  a  natural  enemy,  but  the 
most  unnatural.  Many  creatures  who  have  never 
seen  him  have  at  first  no  fear  of  him  at  all. 

The  flesh  of  these  fishes  is  reddened  often  by 
their  food,  such  as  medusas,  corals,  etc.,  which  are 
poisonous  to  us.  Others  may  eat  of  decaying  flesh, 
likewise  hurtful  to  man  but  harmless  to  many  other 
creatures.  Along  our  southeastern  coast  and  around 
Cuba  are  found  many  such  fishes,  that  produce  severe 
sickness  when  eaten. 

Sometimes  this  happens  at  the  egg-laying  season 
only,  when  the  eggs  of  certain  fishes  are  also  hurt- 
ful. 


TALK  XI. 

A  glance  inside  of  the  fish  at  a  few  of  the  things  it  keeps  there ; 
or  mouth,  teeth,  gullet,  stomach,  etc. 

THERE  are  a  few  fishes  whose  places  or  kinships 
can  not  be  made  out  unless  some  one  should  cut  them 
open.  The  outside  parts  may  appear  to  teach  us 
something  about  the  fish  which  would  be  wholly  mis- 
leading and  wrong.  In  many  other  cases,  those  per- 
sons only  who  have  captured  or  seen  vast  numbers  of 
specimens  are  able  to  say,  merely  from  its  outward 
appearance,  what  sort  of  fish  it  is  which  they  have, 
and  what  are  its  habits. 

Now  'we  are  going  to  profit  some  by  their  dissec- 
tions, and  yet  not  have  to  cause  pain  or  death  our- 
selves, or  have  to  smear  our  hands  with  scales  and 
blood. 

To  those  of  us  really  interested  in  fishes  the  in- 
side structure  is  very  helpful  in  telling  us  much  of 
their  habits  and  something  of  their  history.  Even  to 
those  who  care  for  the  fish's  ways,  movements,  and 
external  things  only,  these  parts  are  of  interest,  be- 
cause they  may  show  how  these  other  things  are 
done. 

Suppose  that  you  saw  for  the  first  time  a  locomo- 
tive engine  standing  dead  and  cold — not  upon  a  track 
114 


STRUCTURE.  115 

but  upon  a  platform  —  and  that  you  had  not  heard  of 
its  use.  The  flanges  on  the  wheel  would  make  you 
curious.  Why  not  flat  ?  Where  do  they  fit  ?  What 
are  all  these  pipes  for,  this  lever  here,  this  sand  box, 
and  all  these  cams  and  rods  ?  Why  can  not  the 
wheels  turn  without  them  ? 

And  then  these  grate-bars,  what  are  they  for  ? 
And  look  at  this — this  large,  hollow,  stomach -like 
thing  !  What  do  they  put  in  that,  and  why  do  they 
put  it  there  ? 

Then  if  some  one  should  place  it  on  a  track, 
steam  it  up,  and  make  it  move,  your  joy  would  be 
great  because  you  could  see  all  these  things  act  their 
parts. 

Suppose  that,  on  the  other  hand,  your  first  glimpse 
of  a  locomotive  engine  was  as  it  dashed  by  you  at  a 
mile  a  minute,  and  you  had  only  a  blurred  image 
of  a  whirling,  rushing,  roaring,  snorting  thing — no 
one  part  seen  definitely.  Your  interest  wTould  be 
wildly  stirred,  and  the  first  impulse  would  be  to  fol- 
low it  up,  as  a  boy  would  follow  a  band-wagon,  and 
study  out  its  structure  in  the  hope  that  you  might 
see  how  it  did  this. 

Many  a  boy  has  thus  studied  machinery,  and  found 
out  what  it  does  with  the  things  it  has,  or  how  it  per- 
forms its  wonders. 

Be  a  little  patient  now  for  the  next  few  talks,  as 
we  look  a  little  into  the  grate,  the  liquid  circulation, 
the  fuel  arrangements,  and  the  fanning-up  apparatus 
of  our  little  locomotive  which  runs  under  water. 


11(3  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

TEETH. 

As  we  look  into  the  mouth  the  first  thing  that 
we  see  is,  quite  likely,  the  teeth.  These  are  often 
very  numerous,  much  scattered  around,  and  of  various 
shapes.  A  few  of  the  fishes  are  destitute  of  teeth. 
Many  do  not  have  any  on  the  jaws  ;  but  the  rule  is 
that  you  may  find  them  almost  anywhere  from  the 
lips  to  the  throat. 

Indeed,  we  need  not  look  into  the  mouth  at  all  to 
find  teeth,  since,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  the 


FIG.  51. — Skeleton  of  a  perch. 

sawfish  (see  Fig.  43,  page  84),  the  long,  projecting 
jaw  is  armed  with  them  on  each  edge  for  a  yard  or 
more  outside. 

Like  nearly  all  other  things,  many  of  the  teeth 
in  fishes  appear  to  have  begun  to  grow  from  that 
peculiar  skin  which  lines  all  inside  cavities,  called 
mucous  membrane,  but  they  may,  after  they  become 
hardened,  grow  down  to  the  bones  over  which  they 
begin.  Sometimes,  however,  points  from  these  other 


TEETH  OF  FISHES.  117 

bones  have  grown  up  into  the  tooth.  This  meeting  of 
outside  and  inside  growths  is  a  rather  frequent  thing 
in  the  animals.  The  spines  in  the  vertical  fins  in 
fishes  are  so  met,  or  reached  after  rather,  by  others  in 
the  flesh  below,  and  these  are  reached  after  by  spines 
on  the  backbone.  (See  Skeleton,  Fig.  51,  p.  116.) 

Some  teeth  of  fishes  are  set  in  grooves,  some  in 
sockets  of  the  jaw,  a  little  like  our  own,  but  many  of 
them  always  remain  fastened  merely  to  the  skin  or  flesh. 

A  few  are  attached  to  the  bones  by  tough,  gristly 
fibers  in  such  a  way  that  they  may  be  bent  down  the 
throat  (as  the  prey  is  swallowed),  but  not  bent  out- 
ward. Thus  anything  has  small  chance  of  getting  out 
when  it  once  gets  into  the  mouth  of,  say,  the  hake  or 
pike.  Many  other  fishes  possess  this  kind  of  teeth, 
and  especially  the  angler. 

It  is  stated  that  all  fishes  shed  their  teeth  at  inter- 
vals during  their  entire  lives,  having  a  constant  sup- 
ply of  new  ones  to  come  in  or  on.  Sharks  usually 
have  their  teeth  in  at  least  three  rows.  As  fast  as 
the  outer  ones  are  worn  or  shed,  the  next  row  moves 
to  the  edge  of  the  jaw  and  begins  to  be  used. 

Fishes  seem  to  have  literally  all  kinds  of  teeth,  both 
in  size,  shape,  and  structure,  as  well  as  in  situation  and 
methods  of  shedding  and  growth.  They  range  from 
mere  bristles  or  roughish  stubs  to  great  fangs  for 
cutting,  or  to  great  floors  or  pavements  for  crushing. 
They  may  be  in  patches,  rings,  or  bands,  or  they  may 
be  massed  into  great  unbroken  plates.  These  plates 
are  often  found  in  the  throat,  in  such  fish  as  crush 
shellfish  for  food.  In  the  parrot-wrasse,  and  in  some 


118  THE  STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 

headfish,  the  teeth  are  fused  together  around  the  edges 
•of  the  jaws  till  a  sort  of  parrot-beak  is  formed,  very 
useful  in  cutting  off  corals,  etc.  Other  teeth  are 
arranged  for  gnawing.  It  is  said  that  the  filefish  can 
gnaw  through  shells  as  a  rat.  Others,  as  the  carps, 
which  eat  vegetable  food,  have  teeth  with  grinding 
surfaces,  like  those  of  grass-eating  quadrupeds. 

Mr.  Huxley  has  claimed  that  even  the  short,  pearly 
spines  on  the  skin  of  the  sharks  have  all  the  struc- 
ture of  true  teeth.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  globefish 
family,  the  mouth  is  formed  of  a  bony  or  horny  layer, 
which  is  of  much  the  same  material  as  that  found  in 
the  beaks  of  birds.  These  fishes,  therefore,  in  mate- 
rial have  true  beaks. 

To  know  the  shape  and  structure  of  teeth  gen- 
erally is  very  important  to  the  naturalist  and  geolo- 
gist. The  great  group  to  which  a  fish  belongs  can 
often  be  known  by  a  single  tooth.  If  this  be  not 
evident  by  its  shape,  the  surface  after  the  tooth  is 
sawed  in  two  will  sometimes  tell  -a  great  deal.  It 
often  happens  that  all  that  is  found  in  the  rocks  is 
the  fish's  tooth,  but  this  enables  the  student  to  tell 
much  about  the  swimmer  that  roamed  these  old  seas 
whose  bottoms  are  high  and  dry  now.  Fishes'  teeth 
may  have  peculiar  grooves  or  folds  in  them  ;  they 
may  be  hooked  at  the  tip,  and  a  few  are  barbed  along 
their  length,  as  a  fishhook. 

TONGUE. 

In  the  salmon  and  a  few  others  the  tongue  even 
is  armed  with  teeth.  In  some  of  the  hagfishes  the  end 


TONGUES  OF   FISHES.  119 

of  the  tongue  is  thus  armed,  and  the  creature  literally 
licks  its  way  into  other  fishes.  In  these  and  the  lam- 
preys the  tongue  is  round,  and  fills  the  circular 
mouth  as  the  piston  fits  a  pump.  By  this  means 
they  are  better  able  to  suck  themselves  to  an  enemy 
and  to  draw  its  blood. 

Often,  however,  the  tongue  of  the  fish  is  not 
easily  distinguished  from  a  sort  of  fold  of  the  floor  of 
the  mouth.  Rarely  does  it  have  much  motion,  or  at 
least  the  power  (capacity)  of  being  extended  outward. 
If  a  fish  wishes  to  throw  anything  out  of  its  mouth, 
it  may  cause  the  floor  to  heave  it  up  and  thus  get  rid 
of  it ;  but  the  creature  often  simply  shuts  its  mouth 
quickly,  so  as  to  cause  the  water  to  rush  out  and 
carry  the  rejected  thing  with  it.  Fishes  seem  to  be 
great  tasters,  though  they  can  really  taste  so  little. 
They  take  into  their  mouths  many  things  that  are 
unfit  for  food,  and  appear  to  be  able  to  tell  by  feel- 
ing that  they  do  not  want  such  stuff. 

When  the  tongue  is  absent  there  usually  remains, 
however,  the  bones  beneath  it,  on  which,  in  all  verte- 
brates, the  tongue  is  built ;  showing,  perhaps,  that  their 
forefathers  had  tongues,  and  these  modern  fishes  have 
lost  them.  But  in  the  catfishes  the  tongue-bones  even 
are  gone.  As  already  noticed,  the  tongue  in  fishes 
seems  to  receive  few  nerves,  and  can  not,  therefore,  be 
of  much  account  in  tasting. 

PHARYNX. 

Behind  the  tongue  in  fishes  is  a  space  or  cavity 
which  is  not  the  mouth  or  the  throat.  It  is  just  in- 


120  THE  STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 

side  of  the  gills,  and  because  it  is  connected  with 
breathing,  as  it  allows  the  water  to  pass  from  the 
mouth  outward,  it  is  called  the  pharynx. 

In  some  large  fishes,  so  great  is  this  space,  which 
is  filled  with  nothing  but  water,  that,  as  we  shall  see, 
other  little  fishes  make  their  homes  here  always. 

THROAT. 

The  throat  of  most  fishes  is  large,  and  usually 
permits  the  swallowing  of  great  lumps  of  food.  Often, 
though,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  placed  just  in  the 
entrance  to  the  swallow  or  gullet  a  great  plate  of 
teeth  for  crushing  the  food. 

We  have  already  seen,  when  speaking  of  how  far 
forward  the  anal  fin  may  run,  that  the  body  cavity  of 
a  fish  is  very  short.  In  a  few  instances,  as  in  flatfishes, 
headfishes,  etc.,  the  rear  opening  is  directly  under  the 
throat. 

In  all  cases  the  whole  digestive  tract  of  a  fish  is 
quite  brief,  often  much  shorter  than  the  length  of 
the  fish.  This  will  appear  more  remarkable  when  we 
consider  that  in  many  beasts  it  is  often  more  than  ten 
times  the  length  of  the  body. 

THE  GULLET 

is  the  plain  English  name  for  the  swallow-tube  that 
leads  to  the  stomach.  It  is  necessarily  very  short.  It 
has  no  folded  pockets  or  expanded  places  in  it  which 
form  crops  or  craws,  as  in  the  birds.  The  stomach 
is,  of  course,  such  a  pouch  as  this,  but  there  are  some 
rather  high  fishes,  as  those  of  the  flying-fish  family 


STOMACHS  OF   FISHES. 


121 


and  many  of  our  little  chubs  in  the  creeks,  in  which 
there  is  practically  no  stomach,  the  gullet  itself  stor- 
ing the  food  for  a  while. 

In  the  very  lowest  of  the  fish-forms  the  gullet 
runs  entirely  through  as  one  continuous  tube,  without 
any  change  in  size  and  with  very  little  change  in 
direction. 

THE  STOMACH. 

In  the  higher  forms  of  fishes  there  is  usually  an 
expansion  of  the  gullet  into  a  pouch,  called  the  stom- 
ach, and  the  tube  is  usually 
bent  directly  upward  back 
upon  itself  at  the  lower  end 
of  this  pouch.  It  seems 
quite  likely  that  the  bend- 


FIG.    52.— Siphonal    form    of 
stomach. 


FIG.  53. — Csecal  form  of  stomach. 


ing  was  first  and  the  pouching  was  later,  because  very 
naturally  the  food  would  tend  to  be  stopped  by  the 
bend,  or  be  dammed  up  there  (Fig.  52). 

Now  in  some  cases,  after  the  tube  was  bent  up, 
as  in  the  accompanying  figure,  a  long  sac  was  formed 
directly  beneath  this  bend,  as  shown  in  Fig.  53, 


122  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

This  also  might  seem  to  have  been  formed  by  the 
weight  of  the  food  at  the  bend. 

The  first  form  of  the  stomach  is  called  siphonal, 
because  it  is  bent  like  a  siphon,  and  the  second  form 
is  called  ccecal,  because  it  has  a  sac.  Cceca  means  sac. 

It  is  not  expected  at  all  that  you  will  remember 
these  names,  but  these  two  kinds  of  stomachs  are  very 
useful  in  identifying  some  fishes.  Thus  the  salmons 
and  their  kin  have  a  siphonal  stomach,  the  smelts 
have  the  ccecal  or  latter  kind.  There  is  no  other  way 
of  knowing  these  fishes  from  each  other  in  all  their 
sizes. 

We  will  not  dwell  longer  on  the  other  details  of 
the  digestive  tract,  except  to  say  that  in  the  shark- 
group  there  are  some  spiral  folds  in  the  lower  part 
of  it,  to  keep  the  food  from  passing  through  too 
rapidly.  .These  were  set  up,  quite  likely,  before  the 
stomach  was  so  perfect.  We  know  that  sharks  had 
them  in  the  long  ago,  because  some  of  their  food 
found  fossil  (petrified  in  the  rocks)  has  the  marks  of 
the  spiral  folds  in  it  yet. 

In  fishes,  as  in  birds  and  others,  the  form  and 
structure  of  the  stomach  may  vary  with  the  kind  of 
food.  Those  that  eat  flesh,  which  is  easily  digested, 
have  simple,  thin- walled  stomachs  and  short  digestive 
tracts  beyond ;  but  those  that  eat  vegetables  and 
other  indigestible  things  have  thick-walled  stomachs 
usually,  and  a  digestive  tract  below  which  is  much 
twisted  about.  Thus  the  mugil,  one  of  the  mullets, 
and  the  gizzard-shad,  have  true  gizzards. 

In  many  fishes  there  are,  at  the  lower  end  of  the 


STOMACHS  OF   FISHES.  123 

stomach,  a  lot  of  little  worm-like  tubes  closed  at  their 
lower  ends,  which  are  very  helpful  in  knowing  or 
describing  the  species. 

But  of  all  the  fishes,  some  of  those  known  as  the 
deep-sea  fishes  possess  the  queerest  of  stomachs. 

In  some  of  these,  as  the  bottlefish  and  the  black 
swallower  (see  Fig.  5,  page  11),  the  stomach  is  the 
chief  thing,  and  the  rest  of  the  fish  seems  merely  as 
a  handle  attached  to  it.  So  great  and  expansive  is 
this  pouch  that  the  fish  can  literally,"  get  outside  of" 
creatures  that  are  much  larger  than  itself — often  as 
much  as  three  times  larger. 

They  throw  their  great  mouths  and  hooked  teeth 
over  some  part  of  their  prey,  and,  while  it  still  swims 
about,  they  gradually  stretch  the  stomach  about  it, 
finally  taking  it  all  in  and  digesting  it. 

Sometimes,  however,  the  prey  succeeds  in  strug- 
gling up  to  the  surface  with  its  foe  attached.  Then, 
because  the  great  pressure  of  the  deep  sea  is  removed, 
the  swallower  is  killed  or  made  helpless  by  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  gases  in  its  body.  It  often  bursts,  or 
is  so  swelled  as  to  die. 

The  swellfish,  however,  swallow  great  quantities 
of  air,  till  their  stomachs  are  puffed  out.  On  these 
there  are  usually  spines,  which  by  this  swelling  are 
made  stiff  and  more  threatening.  The  globefish  thus 
floats  bottom  upward,  being  in  this  way  well  protected 
above  and  below  while  it  rests.  (See  Fig.  49,  p.  109.) 

Doubtless  other  fishes  thus   swell  themselves  to 
appear  very  frightful,  as  do  frogs,  toads,  snakes,  and 
even  man  when  trying  to  bluff  some  one. 
10 


124  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 


LIVER. 

Perhaps  we  need  say  nothing  of  the  structure  and 
location  of  the  liver  in  fishes,  except  that,  in  the  low- 
est, it  is  a  mere  sac  on  the  side  of  the  digestive  tract, 
and  that  it  assumes  much  importance  in  the  higher 
forms.  Besides  doing  the  usual  duties  of  livers,  it 
here  seems  to  become  often  a  reservoir  or  storing 
place  of  a  soft  fat  or  thick  oil.  Many  fishes  are  taken 
for  this  liver-oil  only— that  of  the  codfish  being  of 
well-known  use.  Because  there  is  much  of  iodine, 
bromine,  and  other  medical  elements  in  the  sea,  and 
because  a  fish's  liver,  like  our  own,  is  much  affected 
by  what  it  drinks,  this  oil  is  curative  in  many  dis- 
eases that  humanity  is  heir  to. 

Other  interesting  things  are  found  inside  of  a  fish, 
but  many  of  them  can  not  be  noted  here.  Some 
come  up  in  the  next  talk,  some  in  the  one  after  that, 
and  others  in  the  following  chapters  still. 

Then  we  shall  talk  of  some  more  interesting  out- 
side things  again,  which  you  may  like  better. 


TALK   XII. 

How  a  fish  gets  its  breath,  and,  with  only  half  a  heart,  keeps  up  its 
circulation  ;  or  gills,  heart,  and  blood-vessels. 

SINCE  some  fishes  breathe  by  means  of  the  digestive 
tract,  it  may  be  as  well  to  take  up  here  the  topic  of 
respiration,  or  how  a  fish  gets  its  breath. 

It  is  well  known,  of  course,  that  we  and  all  the 
beasts  breathe  by  drawing  in  great  quantities  of  air 
and  blowing  them  out  again,  all  at  regular  intervals ; 
but  respiration  is  more  than  this.  We  might  puff  in 
and  out  the  world  full  of  air,  but  that  would  do  us 
no  good  unless  the  oxygen  in  the  air  was  taken  up  by 
the  blood  and  afterward  given  up  from  this  to  the 
muscles  and  to  other  things  which  need  to  move  and 
grow. 

One  sometimes  feels  as  if  about  to  smother  when 
the  heart  is  not  working  right.  This  shows  that  the 
topic  of  circulation  is  closely  connected  with  that  of 
respiration — in  fact,  is  a  very  essential  part  of  it. 

In  all  the  backboned  folk,  and  many  others,  the 
rule  is  that  there  is  a  certain  place  where  the  blood  is 
brought  so  close  to  the  air  that  the  oxygen — the  life- 
giving  and  moving  (energizing)  gas  of  our  atmosphere 
— can  ooze  or  pass  through  the  thinnest  kind  of  a 
membrane  directly  into  this  blood.  Some  sort  of 

125 


126  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

movement  must  therefore  be  given  to  the  blood,  and 
this  is  usually  imparted  by  the  contraction  and  expan- 
sion of  sacs,  bulbs,  or  great  muscular  organs  called 
hearts,  which  are  situated  somewhere  in  the  midst  of 
the  blood-vessels. 

In  some  creatures,  as  the  insects,  for  instance,  the 
air  goes  into  the  body  at  a  great  many  different  places, 
so  that  the  blood  needs  to  flow  scarcely  at  all,  or  just 
to  ooze  along  very  slowly.  But  elsewhere,  a  favorite 
method  of  Nature  for  giving  oxygen  to  the  blood  was, 
even  long  before  the  fishes,  by  means  of  pumping 
that  liquid  into  little  tufts,  threads,  or  cells  having 
the  thinnest  of  walls  outside  and  being  porous  on  the 
inside,  so  that  they  may  be  easily  filled.  She  placed 
these  anywhere  about  the  creature  ;  and  since  so  many 
of  the  animals  swallowed  air  as  they  ate,  these  little 
gill-tufts,  as  we  shall  call  them,  were  often  found  in- 
side of  the  digestive  tract  below  the  stomach. 

Some  fishes  also  have  these  gill  tufts  so  placed 
now,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  the  earliest  times  they 
all  breathed  largely  by  swallowing  air  just  as  they 
now  swallow  food.  Even  yet  many,  that  have  good 
gills  in  the  usual  place  still,  keep  up  to  some  extent 
this  older  method  of  breathing.  One  fish  (Callich- 
tkys)  breathes  very  largely  in  this  way,  and  is  there- 
fore able  to  remain  out  of  water  twenty-four  hours, 
and  in  dry  seasons  to  travel  overland  to  other  pools 
when  that  in  which  it  has  lived  has  dried  up. 

We  shall  see  in  the  next  talk  that  Nature  in  the 
past  took  pains,  apparently,  to  make  a  storing  place 
for  air.  to  be  breathed  at  leisure  in  this  manner, 


GILL  TUFTS. 


127 


But  it  is  by  means  of  these  gill-tufts,  located  in  a 
certain  place  on  the  side  of  the  head,  or  neck  rather, 
that  fishes  usually  breathe  now  ;  and  in  most  cases 
these  gills  are  no  longer  tufts  or  filaments,  springing 
from  one  place  like  a  bunch  of  grass,  thus, 


but  they  are  usually  in  the  form  of  a  rather  regu- 
lar fringe  with  a  stiffened  support  running  along  the 
back,  thus,  . 


These  fringed  gills  are  found  in  fishes  only,  but 
the  tufted  gills  belong  to  many  creatures  below  them 
and  in  a  few  above  them. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  all  fishes  once  had  these 
tufted  gills.  Some  very  young  fishes  show  this  kind 


FIG.  54. — Young  dogfish,  showing  outside  gills  that  afterward  dis- 
appear. 

of  gills  yet,  especially  as  they  are  hatching,  but  they 
have  the  regular  kind  when  grown.  Such  are  the 
sharks,  and  some  of  the  sturgeon-forms,  lungfishes, 


128  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

etc.  Likewise  the  pipefish  family  has  this  sort  of 
gills  all  the  time. 

All  the  amphibians,  as  frogs  and  salamanders, 
when  they  are  young  have  tufted  gills,  worn  on  the 
outside,  and  some  (few)  of  these  keep  these  tufts  all 
their  lives. 

Doubtless  at  the  time  when  the  fishes  and  the 
amphibians  separated  from  each  other  away  down  in 
the  past,  both  were  wearing  these  tufted  gills  on  the 
outside ;  and  it  is  hinted,  as  we  shall  see.  that  both 
were  beginning  to  form  lungs  also.  But  of  that 
later. 

The  fringed  gill  was  a  new  thing  in  Nature  at 
the  time  of  the  perfecting  of  the  fishes,  and,  as  noted, 
belongs  to  the  true  fishes  only.  Usually  these  are 
arranged  along  bony  or  gristly  supports  or  arches 
which  are  situated  inside  the  neck  or  well  back  in  the 
mouth  cavity. 

In  common  fishes  there  are  now  four  of  these  (a 
fifth  one  having  been  lost),  and  they  swing  free  from 
each  other  and  from  everything  else,  except  that  they 
are  fast  at  each  end. 

Between  them  are  spaces  which  are  called  gill- 
slits,  but  in  all  fishes  above  the  sharks  these  do  not 
open  on  the  outside,  because  they  are  covered  by  a 
sort  of  scale-like  bone  called  the  gill -cover. 

But  in  the  shark-forms  there  are  as  many  outside 
openings  as  there  are  gill-slits,  and  there  is  no  cover- 
ing at  all ;  here  also  the  gill-supports  are  not  free, 
but  are  grown  to  the  skin  all  the  way  along  the  open- 
ings. These  are  called  gill -arches. 


GILLS  OP  FISHES.  129 

If  we  look  at  the  gills  of  the  higher  bony  fishes 
closely,  we  can  see  places  where  there  were  once  more 
openings  in  their  gill-covers  also,  there  being  distinct 
creases  or  scars  where  these  extra  slits  have  grown 
up.  This  fact  of  a  single  opening  and  many  open- 
ings makes  a  great  and  easily  noted  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  great  divisions  of  the  fishes.  There  is, 
however,  one  group  of  fishes,  lying  between  them, 
which  have  the  gill-covering  of  the  bony  fishes  rather, 
but  much  of  the  structure  of  the  sharks 
otherwise.  It  is  the  spookfishes,  or 
Chimceras. 

A  distinction  between  the  sharks 
and  rays  may  usually  be  made  by  notic- 
ing that  the  sharks  have  the  gill  slits 
on  the  side  of  the  neck  and  the  rays  on 
the  bottom.  These  are  usually  five — 
in  a  few  cases  seven. 

The  single  gill -opening  on  each  side  FlQ  55  _Dia. 
of  the  neck  of  the  higher  fishes  is  usually  gram  of  circu- 

_v        lation  of  blood 

a  large  slit  extending  from  the  top  of  the  through  the 
body  around  far  under  the  throat,  where 
it  almost  meets  the  other.  But  it  may  vary  much  in 
size.  Sometimes  it  is  only  a  roundish  hole  through 
the  bone  which  forms  the  gill  cover.  In  one  family 
of  eels  the  two  slits  run  into  each  other  and  form  a 
single  opening  directly  across  the  throat  below. 

There  are  about  the  gills  many  neat  arrangements 
for  keeping  them  clean,  erect,  separated,  and  in  the 
best  condition  for  usefulness.  Space  will  not  permit 
the  mention  of  them.  The  main  object  in  all  this  is 


130  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

that  an  abundance  of  water  may  pass  over  the  fringes 
and  give  up  its  oxygen  to  them.  Nearly  all  water 
has  air  in  it,  and  it  is  from  this  air  that  the  fish  lives 
and  moves. 

The  act  of  breathing  in  a  fish  consists  in  opening 
the  mouth,  allowing  the  water  to  enter,  then  closing 
it  and,  by  contracting  the  gill  cavity,  forcing  it  out 
over  these  fringes.  They  are  all  so  placed  that  the 
passage  of  the  water  in  this  manner  keeps  them  well 
separated.  It  is  said  that  if  a  fish  be  dragged  back- 
ward through  the  water  it  will  soon  drown  or  perish 
for  air,  because  this  causes  the  gills  to  clog  and  close 
up.  So,  likewise,  if  a  fish  has  its  mouth  kept  open 
while  in  the  water  it  will  die,  because  it  can  not 
breathe  properly  except  by  using  its  mouth  to  force 
the  water  past  the  gills.  Some  other  creatures  have  a 
fringe  of  fleshy  threads  (cilia)  around  the  opening 
where  the  water  enters,  so  that,  by  working  these,  a 
current  may  be  made  to  pass  over  the  gills. 

Like  ourselves,  a  fish  must  breathe  faster  as  it 
moves  more  rapidly,  for  the  more  breath  the  more 
energy.  The  act  of  breathing  in  a  fish  helps  it  move 
a  little  bit,  for  the  closing  of  the  gill-covers  forces  the 
fish  forward,  just  as  some  shellfish  move  by  suddenly 
closing  the  halves  of  their  shells. 

In  the  lower  fish-forms  the  manner  of  breathing 
is  very  interesting,  but  too  difficult  for  our  discussion. 

In  the  lampreys  and  hagfishes  there  are  several 
sacs  along  the  sides  into  which  the  water  flows  from 
the  mouth.  In  a  few  cases  these  sacs  send  tubes  into 
the  gullet,  so  that  water  may  be  swallowed  into  them. 


BREATHING  OF  FISHES.  131 

In  some  there  is  an  outer  opening  for  each  sac,  in 
others  only  one  for  all  the  sacs.  On  the  whole,  the 
arrangement  can  be  seen  to  hint,  in  a  rather  general 
way,  at  that  found  in  the  sharks,  though  this  may  be 
rather  accidental. 

In  the  lancelet  the  water  enters  the  mouth,  fanned 
in  by  a  lot  of  fleshy  strings,  thence  it  passes  through 
a  great  number  of  slits,  near  which  are  the  breathing 
surfaces ;  then  it  drops  into  the  body  cavity  and  runs 
out  by  a  special  single  pore.  Around  each  of  these 
little  slits  noted  there  are  fringes  or  cilia  which  pass 
it  on.  Since  the  creature  has  no  head  or  jaws,  these 
are  necessary  to  move  the  water.  (See  Fig.  10,  p.  22.) 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  many  creatures 
below  the  fishes  the  gills  are  set  on  stalks  or  branches 
which  can  be  thrust  out  and  moved  through  the  water, 
instead  of  having  the  water  move  over  them.  These 
are  usually  very  quiet,  lazy  animals. 

The  oddest  method  of  breathing  is  by  the  skin,  as 
already  noted.  Many  of  the  low  creatures  breathe  in 
that  way  almost  exclusively,  by  having  the  air  go  in 
at  the  pores  ;  and  not  only  the  air  but  the  water.  It 
is  well  known  that  water  runs  into  the  muscles  of 
fishes. 

Fishes  still  breathe  very  much  by  the  skin,  as  do 
their  cousins,  the  amphibians,  and  some  of  the  reptiles, 
as  the  turtles.  So  remarkable  is  this  kind  of  breath- 
ing in  water,  that  some  frogs  and  salamanders,  if  the 
skin  be  kept  damp,  can  live  for  months  with  the 
lungs  removed ;  and  a  few  fishes  live  a  long  time 
with  the  gills  taken  out. 


132  THE  STORY  OF  THE   PISHES. 

In  such  fishes  as  breathe  in  this  way  there  is  a 
great  network  of  arteries  running  to  the  skin,  so  that 
the  blood  may  get  its  oxygen. 

The  breathing  of  fishes  by  lungs  and  air-bladders 
is  an  interesting  topic,  which  we  shall  reserve  solely 
for  the  next  talk. 

CIRCULATION  AND  THE  HEART. 

As  already  stated,  circulation  must  follow  breath- 
ing, and  is  really  a  part  of  it. 

In  man  and  the  mammals  generally,  as  well  as  in 
the  birds,  there  is  a  great  muscular  heart  to  send  the 
blood  to  the  lungs  and  to  the  rest  of  the  body  also. 
But  in  the  reptiles  and  amphibians  it  is  not  so  com- 
plete, while  down  among  the  highest  of  the  fishes 
there  is  only  half  a  heart.  In  fact,  there  are  hints 
that  the  higher  fishes  have  lost  their  heart  almost,  or 
at  least  part  of  it — a  fact  hinting  many  other  things, 
as  we  shall  see  later. 

Many  very  low  creatures  have  no  heart  at  all ;  the 
large  blood-vessels  simply  throb  (pulsate)  at  certain 
places.  In  some  cases  the  blood  is  sent  first  one  way, 
then  back  the  other.  In  that  lowest  form  of  fishes, 
the  lancelet,  there  is  no  heart. 

But  the  true  fishes  all  have  hearts,  by  which  the 
blood  is  sent  in  a  circuit  throughout  the  body.  We 
have  called  a  fish  a  half-hearted  creature,  because  our 
hearts  have  four  chambers  while  a  fish's  has  only  two. 

To  make  up  for  this,  however,  the  fish  retains 
some  of  those  old  pulsating  (throbbing)  places,  which 
have  been  mentioned,  both  in  the  arteries  and  veins. 


HEARTS  OF   FISHES.  133 

They  have  become  thick-walled  and  muscular,  and 
act  as  assistant  hearts.  The  fish  simply  has  not 
bunched  all  its  heart  chambers  together  as  we  have. 

These  pulsating  bulbs  are  very  useful  in  classify- 
ing or  distinguishing  the  fishes.  Thus  all  sharks  have 
such  a  shaped  bulb,  so  located,  so  built,  etc.,  and 
other  fishes  do  not  have  such  but  have  other  shapes. 
These  things,  however,  are  too  technical  for  us. 

One  of  these  bulbs  pumps  the  already -used  blood 
into  the  heart,  and  the  other  helps  the  heart  to  force 
it  on  into  the  gills  and  body.  No  blood  that  has  a 
fresh  supply  of  oxygen  ever  enters  the  heart  of  any 
fish  which  breathes  solely  by  gills. 

Only  a  part  of  the  blood  of  such  fishes  really  goes 
to  the  gills  as  it  makes  its  round-trip  ;  some  of  it  may 
pass  on  by  other  branches,  so  that  really  all  of  it  does 
not  get  to  the  air.  The  rest  goes  around  again  in  the 
circuit.  The  fishes  are  therefore  said  to  have  a  mixed 
circulation,  because  the  aerated  (brought  to  the  air) 
blood  and  the  already  used  blood  are  mixed. 

The  blood  that  is  sent  to  the  gills  does  not  usually 
come  again  directly  back  to  the  heart  before  it  is  sent 
to  the  body  (as  it  does  in  all  cases  where  there  are 
lungs),  but  it  flows  onward  into  the  system. 

There  is  an  artery  for  each  set  of  fringes,  but 
there  is  also,  in  some  fishes,  a  connection,  as  already 
noted,  formed  around  each  fringe  by  which  some 
blood  runs  directly  to  those  tubes  beyond,  which  go 
on  into  the  system. 

Since  little  fishes,  as  they  hatch,  do  not  have  any 
branches  of  the  artery  sent  off,  especially  for  the 


134  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

fringes,  one  great  authority  is  inclined  to  believe  that 
fishes  had  a  circulation  that  ran  to  lungs  before  they 
had  a  circulation  by  the  gills — that  is,  that,  in  modern 
fishes,  gills  are  really  newer  than  lungs. 

It  is  certainly  true  that,  in  the  highest  fishes  only, 
does  all  the  blood  pass  through  the  gills.  We  shall 
see  later  that  in  these  higher  fishes  there  are  many 
other  things  which  tend  to  show  that  gill-breathing 
exclusively  is  a  recent  method  of  breathing. 

Of  course,  you  have  noticed  how  cold  a  fish  is, 
even  when  alive  and  active.  Its  blood  is  cold,  and 
the  author  has  been  a  little  tedious  about  these  blood- 
pipes,  that  you  may  see  one  reason  why  it  is  that 
fishes  are  so  cold-blooded.  You  note  that  by  this 
arrangement  all  the  blood  is  not  aerated  or  heated — 
only  a  small  part.  In  those  creatures  that  have  a 
perfect  heart,  all  the  blood  reaches  the  air  or  lungs  in 
every  round,  and  hence  is  better  heated.  In  them 
also  the  circulation  is  more  rapid. 

But  really  the  blood  of  fishes  is  cold,  more  likely, 
because  of  the  small  amount  of  breathing  surface  they 
have,  or  because  the  water  is  so  much  poorer  in  oxy- 
gen than  the  air  is.  In  frogs,  snakes,  and  other 
creatures  which  breathe  air,  the  blood  is  kept  cool  by 
this  mixed  circulation.  As  we  have  often  seen,  Na- 
ture does  the  same  thing  in  many  ways. 

All  creatures  that  haunt  the  water,  or  have  had 
near-by  forefathers  that  once  did,  have  cold  blood. 
It  is  a  wise  arrangement,  so  that  they  are  not  shocked 
by  the  great  difference  of  heat  between  their  blood 
and  the  water. 


BLOOD  OF   FISHES.  135 

We  would  soon  chill  to  death  where  a  fish  lives 
comfortably,  unless  we  were  provided  with  a  great 
coat  of  fur  or  feathers,  as  are  birds,  seals,  otters,  etc., 
or  with  a  great  padding  of  fat,  as  are  the  whales  and 
their  kinsfolk. 

It  is  often  said  that  hot  blood  means  greater  en- 
durance, but  we  are  coming  of  late  years  to  doubt 
that  a  little.  Creatures  are  hot-blooded  more  likely, 
in  part  at  least,  because  their  exposed  position  outside 
of  water  demands  it  in  order  that  they  may  keep 
active.  The  fish  under  the  ice  is  not  in  half  so  cold 
a  place  as  the  boy  who  watches  above  to  catch  it. 

We  have  seen  how  some  fishes  can  convert  nerv- 
ous energy  directly  into  electrical  force  without  the  aid 
of  a  dynamo,  how  some  can  get  a  light  without  heat. 
So  also  a  fish  can  get  great  muscular  power  without 
so  much  heat  as  we  have  to  get  up  when  we  exercise. 
A  fish,  as  well  as  a  mammal,  gets  hotter  as  it  works, 
but  what  is  meant  is  that  we  need  not  claim,  as  the 
books  so  often  do,  that  hot  blood  or  heat  is  the  whole 
secret  of  energy.  While  we  wonder  at  the  gull  or 
albatross,  with  its  hot,  pulsing  heart,  floating  without 
a  wing  flap  behind  a  vessel  for  weeks,  we  must  admire 
the  endurance  of  the  shark  or  pilot  fish  that  follows 
the  same  vessel,  laboriously  thrashing  its  way,  with 
almost  equal  speed,  through  a  much  more  resisting 
medium,  while  its  skin  is  cold  and  snaky. 

There  is  more  in  the  life-power  than  the  simple 
burning  of  fuel. 

The  heat  of  the  blood  is  higher  in  some  fishes  than 
in  others.  In  that  of  the  mackerels  (and  doubtless 


136  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

other  active  fishes)  the  temperature  is  greater  than 
that  of  the  water.  The  more  oxygen  blood  gets  the 
redder  it  is.  It  is  claimed  that  the  flesh  of  some 
active  fish  is  thus  reddened. 

The  blood  is  red  in  all  fishes  except  the  lancelet, 
where  it  is  colorless,  as  it  is  in  many  other  low  crea- 
tures. 

In  the  lungfishes  (of  which  we  shall  hear  more 
shortly),  where  there  are  rude  lungs,  the  blood  tends 
to  be  hotter,  as  it  is  in  other  air-breathing  creatures. 
Since  the  sharks  really  have  a  better  heart  than 
the  higher  fishes,  the  arrangement  hints  that  all  fishes 
were  perhaps  more  nearly  warm-blooded  once  than 
they  are  now,  and  that  they  made  a  landward  start 
from  which  they  went  back  to  the  water — a  hint 
found  in  many  other  things.  This  fact,  combined 
with  another,  that  in  all  higher  fishes  one  of  the  gills 
has  evidently  been  rendered  useless  (there  being  for- 
merly five  instead  of  four)  shows  that  Nature  has 
rather  recently  thought  it  best  to  make  the  higher,  or 
bony  fishes,  cooler  still. 


TALK   XIII. 

llow  the  fishes  came  near  having  lungs,  and  may  have  lost  them 
or  exchanged  them  for  something  better;  or  lungs  and  air- 
bladders. 

PEKHAPS  in  all  the  animals  there  is  no  little  thing 
that  is  so  curious  to  students  as  the  air-bladder  or 
swim-bladder  of  fishes.  It  may  be  present  in  one 
fish,  and  absent  in  its  next  of  kin.  It  has  one  use  in 
one  fish,  another  use  in  another ;  in  some  it  is  con- 
nected with  the  ear,  perhaps  as  an  aid  to  hearing ;  in 
others  it  sends  a  tube  to  the  gullet,  perhaps  to  aid  in 
calling  ;  in  many  it  is  closed  entirely,  and  is  com- 
pressible and  expansible,  doubtless  as  an  aid  to  bal- 
ancing, rising,  or  falling ;  in  others  it  appears  as  a 
storage -sac  for  surplus  air  in  the  system,  a  place 
where  a  fish  puts  up  air  as  we  put  up  ice,  to  be  used 
in  an  emergency  ;  while  in  a  few  others  it  becomes 
(or  remains)  lunglike,  and  in  part  helps  the  fish  to 
get  its  breath. 

In  shape  it  may  be  a  single  sac  ;  it  may  be  in  two 
or  more  parts,  as  if  a  string  were  tied  tightly  around 
a  sausage ;  it  may  be  divided  lengthwise  by  a  parti- 
tion ;  it  may  have  various  pouches  sticking  out  from 
it,  like  little  stockings ;  it  may  be  shaped  like  the 
new  moon,  or  straight ;  it  may  be  forked  behind  or 
in  front ;  it  may  be  single  or  double ;  it  may  have 

137 


138  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

pouches  or  sacs  inside  of  it  which  do  not  show  out- 
side ;  it  may  be  spongy  inside,  like  a  true  lung  ;  or 
the  front  part  of  it  may  be  peculiar  in  some  of  these 
ways,  while  the  rear  is  a  simple  sac  only. 

What  do  all  these  things  mean  ?  Would  not  any- 
body who  thinks  like  to  know  that  ?  Well,  we  never 
will  know,  but  we  can  enjoy  thinking  about  it. 

The  very  lowest  fishes,  the  shark-forms,  do  not 
have  an  air-bladder.  We  shall  use  the  term  air-blad- 
der, because  it  is  a  more  general  term  than  swim- 
bladder.  All  air-bladders  are  not  swim-bladders. 

But  the  sturgeon -forms,  which  we  arrange  next 
above  (though  they  may  be  lower)  all  have  air-blad- 
ders. There  are  a  great  many  individual  species  in 
the  bony  fishes  that  have  none,  but  in  the  lower 
forms  of  these  it  is  generally  present.  These  lower 
forms  are  nearly  all  those  which  have. the  ventral 
fins  set  far  back,  and  have  jointed  fin-rays  and  few  or 
no  spines. 

It  is  not  present  in  the  lamprey-forms  and  the 
lancelet. 

Among  the  bony  fishes  it  is  absent  in  all  the  flat- 
fishes, in  the  blennies,  and  in  many  of  the  eel-forms. 

Now,  while  these  exceptions  exist,  it  is  very  notice- 
able, in  a  general  way,  that  the  air-bladder  tends  to 
disappear  or  be  degraded  as  the  fishes  get  higher  in 
the  scale  from  the  sturgeon-forms. 

It  is  usual  to  divide  air-bladders  into  two  kinds — 
those  which  have  a  tube  leading  from  them  to  the 
digestive  tract  (usually  the  gullet  or  stomach),  and 
those  which  do  not  have  this  tube  (or  duct)  and  are 


THE    SWIM-BLADDER.  139 

entirely  closed.  There  are  cases,- however,  in  which 
this  tube  is  so  small  that  it  can  scarcely  be  seen — 
in  fact,  it  is  spun  oat  so  fine  that  it  seems  just  in 
the  act  of  disappearing.  Now  we  should  not  know 
which  way  this  thing  was  going  if  students  had  not 
examined  some  of  the  young  of  the  higher  fishes  as 
they  grow  from  the  egg.  Here  it  is  found  that  many 
fishes  which  have  no  duct  when  old  do  have  one  when 
young,  and  we  shall  show  later  how  this  settles  the 
question  about  which  way  this  tube  is  going.  Evi- 
dently it  has  passed  away  in  these  high  fishes,  and 
the  air-bladder  with  a  duct  to  the  gullet  is  the  old 
original  form. 

While  it  can  not  be  so  easily  proved,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  such  of  the  higher  fishes  as  have  no 
air-bladder  at  all  have  lost  it,  because  it  ceased  to  be 
useful  to  them. 

In  connection  with  this  loss,  let  us  talk  first  of  the 
air-bladder  as  a  swim-bladder.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  many  fishes  use  this  sac  to  alter  their 
bulk,  so  that  they  may  sink  or  rise  more  easily.  Such 
is  the  popular  impression — in  fact,  it  is  usually  be- 
lieved to  be  its  sole  use.  In  the  catfish  family  this 
bladder  is  surrounded  largely  by  bone,  and  in  one 
kind  of  this  fish  there  is  a  bone  that  can  be  pressed 
down  upon  the  sac  to  make  it  smaller,  or  possibly  to 
press  the  air  out  of  the  tube  to  make  a  noise.  In 
fact,  the  author  thinks  that  this  is  very  probably  the 
use  of  this  pressing,  since  it  is  well  known  that  cat- 
fish «  bellow." 

In  some  other  fishes  there  are  evident  muscles  for 
11 


HO  THE  STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

compressing  this  air  sac ;  in  a  few  there  are  special 
voice  organs  in  connection  with  these  compressing 
muscles.  Such  are  found  in  an  English  fish  called 
the  John  Dory  and  in  some  of  the  sea-robin  folk,  the 
gurnards.  But  we  will  talk  of  voice  later. 

That  this  air-bladder  is  capable  of  great  expansion 
without  bursting  is  showrn  by  the  fact  that  in  fishes 
caught  at  great  depths  and  brought  to  the  surface  it 
expands  so  greatly  that  they  are  helpless.  They  can 
not  again  go  down  into  the  depths,  and  it  is  said  that 
sailors  have  to  puncture  the  bladders  with  a  needle, 
to  enable  them  to  store  the  fish  in  water  tanks. 

This  great  expansion,  however,  it  may  be  well  to 
note,  is  seen  also  in  all  the  muscles  and  inner  parts  in 
very  deep-sea  fishes.  When  once  on  the  surface  they 
are  unable  to  go  down  again,  even  if  they  are  not 
killed  by  bursting. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  in  many  fishes  where 
this  sac  was  nothing  but  a  balloon,  having  no  other 
use  whatever,  there  was  no  need  for  any  tube,  and  it 
was  lost.  Then,  quite  likely,  as  many  students  think, 
these  fishes  acquired  such  habits  as  did  not  make  it 
needful  for  them  to  rise  and  fall  so  often,  and  hence 
they  lost  the  sac. 

Thus  the  flatfishes  are  near  akin  to  many  others 
which  have  air-bladders  (the  codfishes,  for  instance), 
but  we  shall  see  later  that  in  their  present  ugly  shape 
and  bottom-haunting  habits  they  are  a  very  old  family, 
which,  having  no  need  to  rise,  lost  their  air-bladders. 
So  also  the  mackerels,  which  have  no  air-bladders,  are 
almost  exclusively  surface  swimmers.  At  least  they 


USES  OF  AIR-BLADDER.  141 

never  lie  on  their  oars  and  sink  slowly  to  the  bottom, 
as  you  may  have  seen  the  goldfish  do. 

Likewise  others  which  now  have  no  air-bladder, 
but  which  have  rising  and  falling  habits,  may  not 
always  have  had  such  habits.  While  an  air-bladder 
is  doubtless  a  convenience,  it  is  by  no  means  an  abso- 
lute necessity. 

The  case  of  the  shark -forms  can  be  quite  likely 
accounted  for  by  change  of  habit,  already  noted  in 
connection  with  the  low  position  of  the  mouth.  As 
we  saw,  under  Teeth,  Tail,  Fins,  etc.,  the  earliest 
sharks  were  ground-feeders,  having  flat  teeth  in  pave- 
ments for  crushing  the  things  which  the  old  ocean 
bed  was  then  so  rich  in. 

The  rays  may  never  have  abandoned  the  habit,  as 
have  most  of  the  sharks.  While  it  is  possible,  of 
course,  that  they  never  had  any  air-bladders  at  all,  it 
is  not  improbable  that  they  lost  them  when  their  an- 
cestors became  purely  gill-breathing  bottom-feeders. 

The  sturgeon -forms  remained  mud -feeders,  but 
kept  their  air-bladders  for  reasons  referred  to  a  little 
further  on. 

The  author  has  not  tried  it,  but  it  is  said  that  if 
the  air-bladder  of  some  fishes  yet  alive  be  pierced 
with  a  needle,  letting  the  air  out,  the  fishes  sink  to 
the  bottom  and  are  unable  to  rise. 

Now,  in  those  fishes  which  have  a  large  tube  lead- 
ing to  the  gullet,  we  can  believe  that  the  air  might  get 
into  this  thin  pearly  sac  by  being  swallowed,  and  in 
such,  at  least,  as  have  this  tube  very  large  this  is 
doubtless  true ;  for  in  some  cases  they  have  been  seen 


142  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

to  come  to  the  surface  and  gulp  down  air.  But  in 
those  with  very  small  tubes,  or  no  tubes  at  all,  the 
air  must  be  obtained  in  some  other  way.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  it  is  taken  from  the  blood  (secreted).  In 
all  cases  there  are  some  blood-vessels  on  the  inside 
of  this  sac,  and  in  many  there  is  a  very  special  spread- 
ing out  of  small  arteries  and  veins  within. 

The  gases  in  the  sac  have  been  studied  and  found 
to  be  nearly  always  a  mixture  of  the  same  gases 
which  make  our  common  air.  In  sea  fishes  this  is 
mostly  oxygen,  the  great  stimulant,  but  in  fresh-water 
fishes  it  is  more  largely  nitrogen  ;  sometimes  the  two 
are  mixed  in  just  about  the  same  proportion,  though 
not  exactly,  as  they  are  in  common  air. 

Now  here  comes  in  a  curious  little  fact  of  the 
kind  that  makes  us  think.  It  is  said  that  if  a  fish  be 
put  into  water  which  is  poor  in  oxygen,  and  examined 
later,  it  will  be  found  that  much  of  that  gas  in  the 
air-bladder  has  been  absorbed  into  the  system,  and 
that  the  sac  is  much  shrunken. 

From  this  we  may  believe  that  the  air-bladders 
act  as  reservoirs  or  storage  places  for  air  (surplus  or 
not),  so  that  in  case  of  great  need  a  fish  can  draw 
upon  this,  as  a  bear  or  seal  draws  in  times  of  hunger 
upon  its  supply  of  stored  fat.  Since  the  same  blood 
conies  to  this  sac  which  is  in  the  other  parts  about 
it,  and  which  has  already  passed  the  gills,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  air-bladder  may  get  oxygen  from 
the  blood,  when  that  fluid  has  it  in  abundance,  and 
yield  it  up  again  when  the  blood  is  deficient  in  this 
gas.  In  this  way,  even  in  its  most  degraded  condi- 


AIR-BLADDER  AND  BREATHING.  143 

tion,  any  air-bladder  may  be  connected  with  breath- 
ing or  respiration.  Having  once  taken  this  'step,  a 
great  many  suggestions  as  to  how  the  air-bladder  may 
help  or  may  have  helped  in  respiration  begin  to  crowd 
upon  us. 

You  recall  how  probably  the  early  fishes  breathed 
more  by  the  digestive  tract  than  lishes  do  now.  They 
swallowed  air.  If  we  recall  also  that  all  early  air- 
bladders  were  connected  with  the  swallow  or  gullet, 
the  hint  may  come  that  perhaps  the  sac's  first  use 
was  as  a  place  to  store  hi  air  by  swallowing,  so  that 
when  a  fish  was  in  the  mud  (as  the  earliest  fishes 
likely  were),  or  at  any  other  place  where  oxygen  was 
scarce,  this  stored  supply  might  be  tapped.  We  shall 
see  later  that  a  very  small  amount  of  pure  air  will 
keep  a  fish  alive  for  a  long  time. 

In  this  way  the  air-bladder  may  be  used  yet  to- 
day, along  with  some  of  its  other  uses  in  such  cases, 
only,  of  course,  where  there  is  a  tube  leading  to  the 
stomach. 

Nature  seems  to  have  been  loath  to  part  with  this 
mode  of  aerating  the  animal's  blood.  Even  in  some 
amphibians  she  sends  unaerated  blood  to  the  gullet 
near  the  mouth. 

To  the  author  it  seems  quite  probable  that  this 
use  is  all  the  air-bladder  has  in  some  low  eel-forms 
which  burrow  in  the  mud — one  sufficiently  useful  to 
account  for  its  not  being  lost  in  their  cases.  For  this 
reason,  quite  likely,  the  sturgeon-forms,  which  yet 
plow  in  the  mud  and  have  bad  water  about  them  all 
the  time,  have  retained  theirs.  It  is  in  this  great 


144  THE   STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

group  especially  that  the  air-bladder  is  fitted  by  struc- 
ture for  this  purpose,  and  the  garfish  and  bowfin  are 
found  thus  filling  it,  and  going  again  to  the  bottom. 
But  in  these  latter  cases  there  comes  in  another 
rather  awakening  fact.  While  these  two  fishes,  and 
many  others  which  we  can  not  now  mention,  take  in 
air  thus,  some  are  noted  as  first  spewing  other  bubbles 
out.  Whatever  the  gases  in  these  bubbles  may  be, 
there  seems  to  be  a  hint  of  real  breathing  by  the 
air-bladder,  although  the  unaerated  blood  is  not  yet 
sent  from  the  heart  directly  to  it.  Still  it  may  help 
to  aerate  the  blood  further,  at  least  that  part  of  it 
which  passes  its  way.  This  begins  to  look  a  little 
lung-like.  This  air-bladder  may  have  either  a  present 
purpose,  an  outlook,  or  a  history.  Which  ? 

In  these  two  American  fishes  just  noted,  the  air- 
bladders  are  double,  quite  like  lungs  in  general,  but 
their  tubes  still  run  into  the  back  of  the  gullet,  and 
the  blood-vessels  are  still  much  like  those  of  any  other 
air-bladder,  except  that  there  are  more  of  them.  In 
an  African  fish,  however,  somewhat  akin  to  them,  the 
air-bladder  is  single,  but  it  is  divided  into  two  parts 
and  its  tube  enters  the  gullet  underneath,  as  the  tubes 
running  from  all  true  lungs  do.  Still,  the  circula- 
tion is  as  before.  These  are  all  in  the  sturgeon  - 
group. 

In  another  queer  fish  found  in  Australia — the 
mudfish  (Ceratodus) — classed  in  the  group  of  lung- 
fishes,  the  lung  is  yet  single  but  has  a  double  set  of 
pouches  all  the  way  along  its  great  length.  In  this 
case  the  heart  does  not  send  blood  directly  to  it  by  a 


ORIGIN  OF   LUNGS. 


145 


special  tube,  so  that  the  fluid  may  be  aerated.  The 
blood  comes  to  it  from  the  system  as  to  any  other  air- 
bladder,  but  it  sends  the  aerated  blood  to  the  heart 
by  special  blood-vessels,  thus  showing  about  one  half 
of  the  peculiar  arrangement  which  a  true  lung  has. 


FK;.  56. — The  Ceratodus  of  Queensland,  an  air-breathing  and  water- 
breathing  mudfish  of  the  ancient  type,  with  paddle  fins. 

In  the  South  American  lungfish  (Lepidosiren\ 
an:l  in  that  more  recently  found  in  Africa  (Protop- 
terus\  the  air-bladder  becomes  lunglike  in  front  and 
saclike  in  the  rear,  is  divided  into  two  distinct  parts, 
and  has  the  complete  circulation  of  any  other  lung, 
the  heart  sending  the  unaerated  blood  to  it  by  a 


146  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

special   tube^  and  the   lung  sending  it  back  l>y  an- 
other. 

Perhaps  before  passing  it  should  be   mentioned 
that  all  these  lungfishes  continue  to  breathe  by  gills 
also,  using  one  or  both  methods,  as  they  may  desire. 
Here,  then,  is  the  growth  (or  evolution)  of  the 
lung  within  the  fishes  to  a  state  of  as  great  cornple- 
^__  _  tion    as    is    found    in    some 

amphibians    and    many   rep- 
tiles, where  also   it  has  cells 
in  front  and  is  a  sac  behind, 
f^^fT^^5^"  in  which  the  air  may  be  sim- 

FIG.  57. — Lepidosireii.  * 

ply  stored.  Even  so  far  up 
as  the  birds,  where  the  lung  is  single,  the  whole  body 
(bones,  etc.)  is  often  full  of  air-spaces  intended  to 
assist  a  rather  scant  breathing  surface. 

The  author  has  tried  to  present  a  glimpse  of  what 
a  single  organ  may  hint  of  its  own  development.  If 
his  conclusions  are  wrong,  sufficient  facts  are  given 
for  you  to  form  conclusions  of  your  own.  To  his 
own  mind  it  seems  not  improbable  that  the  air-bladder 
arose  as  a  simple  storage  sac  attached  to  the  digestive 
tract ;  or  perhaps  it  originated  as  a  simple  aerating  or- 
gan of  its  own  kind,  as  much  so  as  a  gill.  It  is  shown 
as  it  develops  in  the  young  fish  to  be  formed  out  of  a 
pocket  of  the  gullet ;  so,  likewise,  the  lungs  begin  to 
grow  in  all  the  air-breathers.  That  it  is  the  forefather 
of  the  lung  there  can  be  little  doubt  to  the  student. 

It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  in  the  forefathers 
of  the  modern  fishes  the  air-bladder  may  have  run  in 
structure  far  up  toward  a  lung  before  it  began  de- 


DEGRADED  LUNGS. 

grading  toward  the  mere  closed  sac  of  the  highest 
fishes.  The  author  really  thinks  this  is  the  case,  be- 
cause there  is  so  much  else  to  show  that  all  our  fishes 
tended  more  toward  being  air-breathing  or  land- 
haunting  creatures  formerly  than  any  do  now,  except, 
of  course,  the  lungfishes  (Dipnoi). 

Wherever  we  find  a  degraded  lung,  a  part  of  it 
has  become  saclike,  as  in  the  serpents  and  in  some 


nr. 


FIG.  58.— Diagram  of  the  growth  of  a  Sea-Squirt  or  Ascidian.  A  a, 
Young  free-swimming  stage,  a2,  intermediate  stage  when  first 
settling  down.  B  b,  Full-grown  Sea-Squirt,  rooted  to  the  sea-bot- 
tom and  incapable  of  movement,  m,  mouth  ;  e,  hollow  brain  with 
eye  ;  g,  gill  slits  ;  h,  heart :  r,  rod  of  gristle  in  free-swimming  form  ; 
mv,  nerve  cord  in  same ;  t,  tail  in  process  of  absorption  in  inter- 
mediate form. 

other  creatures.     We  know  that  serpents  once   had 
more  perfect  lungs  than  they  now  have. 


148  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

But  the  point  of  separation  where  the  lung  first 
started  landward,  dragging  the  gill  with  it,  as  in  these 
lungfishes  and  the  amphibians,  was  doubtless  away 
down  below  the  place  where  any  of  our  true  fishes  are 
found  to-day ;  but  it  was  likely  some  distance  up 
after  the  air-bladder  was  well  formed  ;  perhaps  after 
it  was  lunglike  and,  as  is  hinted,  after  the  fins  had 
become  rather  leglike.  Even  the  lamprey-forms  and 
lancelet  show  evidences  of  having  once  been  "  better 
off";  and  below  them  all  are  some  creatures  still 
(the  Ascidians)  which  show  in  their  youth  that  they 
began  to  have  something  like  a  backbone  and  were 
shaped  for  moving  around,  but  lost  all  means  of  mov- 
ing in  old  age  by  means  of  disuse  or  pure  laziness. 

Of  course,  you  are  aware  that  the  air-bladders  of 
codfishes  are  pickled,  as  something  nice  to  eat,  and 
are  called  "  sounds,"  and  that  isinglass  (not  mica)  is 
made  from  them. 

In  one  instance  the  air-bladder  is  said  to  have 
been  converted  into  bone. 


TALK    XIV. 

How  some  fishes  spend  their  winter  and  summer  vacations  at 
home  if  they  choose,  and  how  others  travel  for  health  and 
comfort ;  or  hibernation,  migration,  etc. 

JUST  here,  immediately  after  respiration,  it  is 
proper  to  speak  of  a  class  of  fishes  usually  called  am- 
phibious— that  is,  literally  having  double  life.  The 
term  generally  means  that  the  fishes  so  named  can 
live  in  two  elements,  as  can  the  amphibians,  such  as 
the  frogs,  the  salamanders,  etc. 

Since  amphibious  fishes  usually  show  their  ability 
to  live  in  either  air  or  water  as  they  travel  around, 
the  topic  comes  in  here  very  appropriately. 

The  most  noted  of  these,  because  of  their  very 
peculiar  good  fortune  in  having  both  gills  and  lungs, 
are  the  lungfishes  just  discussed.  While  the  bony 
parts  of  their  fins  are  rather  leglike,  as  we  shall  see 
under  Skeleton,  yet  these  are  not  at  all  stiff.  In  one 
case  the  limbs  are  mere  threads  (filaments).  They 
use  their  lungs,  quite  likely,  at  that  time  of  year  only 
when  the  water  gets  foul  or  so  thick  and  muddy  that 
they  can  not  breathe  it  by  gills.  They  all  live  in  hot 
regions  where  the  pools  dry  up  in  summer,  and  this 
is  but  one  of  their  special  arrangements  for  fitting 
them  to  their  surroundings. 

So,  likewise,  although  they  have  lungs,  they  have 

149 


150  THE  STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

one  more  gill  fringe  than  our  common  fishes.  Rather, 
we  might  say,  the  one  that  is  useless  in  common  fishes 
is  useful  in  them,  a  fact  in  keeping  with  our  theory 
that  the  higher  fishes  once  breathed  better  and  were 
probably  warmer-blooded. 

It  seems  strange  that  the  fishes  which  are  really 
the  most  amphibious  and  travel  around  by  land  are 
gill -breathers  exclusively. 

We  have  spoken  of  how  the  mudskippers  (of 
which  there  are  two  kinds,  see  illustration,  page  43, 
Fig.  21),  walk  around  on  their  fins  and  chase  their 
prey  on  land,  and  of  the  peculiar  eyes  and  strong 
spiny  paired  fins  which  they  have. 

They  have  the  gills  also  specially  arranged,  for 
it  is  found  that  the  back  part  of  the  mouth  is 
a  great  cavity  (larger  than  usual),  and  that  the  sur- 
face of  the  gills  here  is  large  also.  When  on  land 
they  are  said  to  keep  the  mouth  closed  and  to  be  thus 
able  to  breathe  by  having  this  space  around  the  gills 
filled  with  air. 

They  can  stay  out  on  land  for  hours,  can  leap 
great  distances  by  the  front  fins,  thus  seeking  and 
pursuing  a  sort  of  crablike  creature  of  which  they 
are  very  fond.  When  pursued  they  escape  by  skip- 
ping, and  do  not  always  flee  to  the  water.  One 
observer  states  that  he  had  to  shoot  his  specimens. 
Even  while  in  the  water  these  fishes  sit  much  of 
the  time  with  their  heads  out,  the  body  only  partially 
under.  At  such  times  the  gill-covers  work  very 
slowly,  because,  quite  likely,  the  large  breathing  sur- 
face does  not  require  rapid  action. 


TRAVELING   FISHES.  151 

Just  next  akin  to  these  are  the  gobies,  which  suck 
themselves  down  to  rocks  and  stay  out  on  land  be- 
tween tides,  thus  saving  a  journey.  These  also  have 
a  similar  breathing  arrangement,  though  it  is  not  so 
large.  Some  of  the  blennies  also,  and  others,  can  live 
in  the  air  by  similar  means. 

In  most  of  these  fishes  there  is  an  unusual  amount 
of  mucus  about  the  gills,  apparently  to  keep  them 
from  getting  dry. 

The  climbing  perch,  so  called  (Anabas  is  the 
scientific  name,  see  Fig.  20,  page  42),  is  truly  a 


FIG.    59.— The  black  goby. 


traveler,  for  it  is  found  walking  overland  from  one 
pool  to  another,  being  able,  by  means  of  these  extra 
spaces  around  the  gills,  to  emigrate  thus. 

It  is  said  that  at  times  it  is  found  climbing  up 
leaning  palms,  holding  on  by  its  spiny  fins  and  by 
a  special  set  of  spines  that  project  downward  from 
the  gill-covers.  It  is  not  known  why  it  climbs  the 
tree,  though  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  hopes  to 
find  water  in  the  axils  of  the  palm  leaves. 

In  this  fish  these  gill-surfaces  are  even  more 
folded  and  wrinkled  than  in  the  others  already  noted, 
and  the  cavity  for  air  extends  well  up  into  the  head, 


152  THE  STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

thus  giving  room  for  storage  of  air,  and  exposing  a 
great  area  for  aerating  the  blood. 

There  is  another  kind  of  gill-arrangement  for 
this  same  purpose  of  air  breathing,  which  is  more 
extensive  still.  The  folds  of  the  breathing  surfaces 
are  not  only  greater  in  extent  and  the  amount  of 
wrinkling,  but  they  run  backward  into  a  very  deep 
pocket  extending  along  the  body.  This  arrangement 
is  found  at  its  best  in  a  family  of  eels  (known  scien- 
tifically as  Sytnbranchidce),  where  it  enables  them  to 
live  for  days  outside  the  water. 

In  this  case  the  sac  seems  yet  to  be  simply  a  place 
to  put  the  extra  gill-surface  in,  and,  of  course,  to  hold 
the  air  breathed ;  but  in  an  Indian  fish,  called  Am- 
phipnous,  the  gills  are  largely  reduced  and  the  sacs 
extend  farther  back  still,  and  these  are  of  themselves 
breathing  organs — so  much  so  that  they  really  re- 
semble lungs  and  open  directly  into  the  mouth,  where 
their  front  ends  are  drawn  up  a  little,  as  a  purse. 
The  circulation  past  these  is  the  same  as  it  is  past 
the  ordinary  gills,  and  is  not  that  of  true  lungs. 

Now  here  seems  to  be  a  beginning  on  the  part 
of  Nature  to  make  lungs  out  of  gills.  These  sacs 
start  directly  out  of  the  mouth  without  any  windpipe, 
as  also  do  the  lungs  of  a  frog.  If  we  could  not 
trace  a  much  closer  connection  between  the  lungs 
and  the  air-bladder  than  there  is  between  the  lungs 
and  these  gill-sacs,  which  have  lost  their  gills,  we 
might  err  in  thinking  that  perhaps  Nature  had 
built  lungs  in  this  way.  But  when  we  compare  the 
structure  of  the  lungfishes  with  that  of  the  amphibians 


HIBERNATION.  153 

above  them  and  that  of  the  other  fishes  below  or  near 
them,  we  readily  see  that  the  air-bladder  is  the  fore- 
father of  the  lung.  The  fishes  that  have  these  gill- 
sacs  are  not  at  all  nearly  akin  ;  nor  are  they  kin  to  the 
higher  creatures  which  have  true  lungs,  while  the 
lungfishes  certainly  are.  The  former  fishes  are  really 
high  up  in  the  bony -fish  group — so  far  up  that  they 
could  not  be  the  forefathers  of  the  true  lung-breathers. 

The  manner  in  which  both  the  lung  arid  air- 
bladders  originate  (begin)  in  the  little  hatching  fishes, 
shows  that  these  two  are  of  the  same  origin.  Both 
commence  as  little  sacs  on  the  side  of  the  gullet. 

As  we  have  seen,  many  fishes  not  specially  sup- 
plied with  large  spaces  or  gill -sacs  can  remain  long  on 
land  if  the  mucus  is  abundant  or  the  region  of  the 
gills  be  kept  moist.  Such  are  the  ordinary  eels  and 
others. 

So  likewise  many  can  bury  themselves  in  the  wet 
sand,  as  the  sand-cusk  and  sand-perch,  and  live  there 
till  the  return  of  the  tide. 

HIBERNATION  AND  DRYING  UP. 

Perhaps,  before  discussing  how  and  why  fishes 
travel,  we  may  just  here  talk  further  of  how  some  of 
them  avoid  moving  altogether  at  the  change  of  the 
seasons  or  the  weather. 

During  the  coldest  weather  some  fishes  are  frozen 
into  the  solid  ice.  This  may  kill  many  of  them, 
but  some,  as  the  carp,  are  said  to  revive  when 
thawed  out. 

There  are  many  fishes,  among  which  is  this  same 


154  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

carp,  which  bury  themselves,  at  the  approach  of  win- 
ter, deep  in  the  mud  of  the  bottoms,  and  thus  lie  dor- 
mant or  asleep,  as  the  higher  animals  hibernate.  It 
would  be  useless  to  try  to  mention  the  number  of 
hibernating  fishes.  They  are  all  fresh-water  fishes, 
mostly  of  our  small  streams,  such  as  chubs,  minnows, 
etc.  Doubtless,  when  compelled  by  low  water  or 
extreme  cold,  many  others  do  the  same ;  and  some  of 
those  that  usually  hibernate  may  remain  active  during 
some  mild  winters. 

Such  a  very  active  fish  as  the  black  bass  has  been 
found  buried  asleep  in  the  mud,  even  rather  late  in 
the  spring. 

Where  the  water  is  deep  enough  many  fishes  re- 
main at  home,  and  are  active  all  winter.  Sometimes 
these  perish  for  want  of  air,  if  the  pools  are  frozen 
over  for  long  periods.  Many  a  country  boy  has  no- 
ticed the  catfish  coming  for  breath  to  a  hole  cut  in 
the  ice. 

Some  fishes  that  remain  active  cease  to  feed,  while 
others,  as  the  pickerels,  are  very  greedy  at  this  time, 
and  are  caught  with  hooks  through  holes  in  the  ice. 

A  few  fishes  can  not  endure  cold  of  a  few  degrees 
below  the  usual  temperature,  and  must  hasten  away 
to  deep  or  southern  waters,  where  the  temperature 
always  remains  much  the  same. 

Before  we  leave  this  topic  we  must  speak  of  how 
much  heat  also  a  fish  can  endure,  for  they  vary  greatly 
in  this  respect  also.  Thus  it  is  well  known  that  the 
brook-trout  can  not  live  in  water  above  a  certain 
temperature.  The  author  has  watched  them  as  they 


FISHES  AND  TEMPERATURE.  155 

advanced  higher  and  higher  up  the  mountain  brooks 
in  the  late  hot  summer,  till  they  lay  almost  under  the 
melting  snow.  Cattish,  on  the  contrary,  can  live  in 
water  disagreeably  warm  to  the  human  hand. 

In  the  sea,  also,  certain  fishes  are  either  arctic  or 
tropical,  just  as  are  certain  birds  and  quadrupeds. 
But  because  at  great  depths  of  the  sea  the  tempera- 
ture is  nearly  alike  everywhere,  there  is  not  so  much 
difference  in  this  respect  in  marine  (sea)  fishes  as  in 
birds,  etc. 

Most  fishes  are  comfortable  at  our  summer  heat. 
Some  extreme  cases  are  noted.  Fishes  have  been 
found  in  hot  springs  at  a  temperature  of  120°  F. — 
too  hot  to  hold  the  hand  in  comfortably — and  Hum- 
boldt  makes  the  extravagant  statement  that  he  saw 
fishes  thrown  up  alive  and  unhurt  from  volcanoes 
when  the  issuing  water  lacked  only  two  degrees  of 
being  boiling  hot. 

In  climates  where  the  long,  intense,  rainless 
summers  dry  up  the  pools,  we  have  seen  that  certain 
amphibious  fishes  can  move  overland  to  new  pools. 
But  Nature  again  has  here  provided  a  way  for  some 
fishes  to  spend  the  summer  vacation  at  home  if  they 
choose.  Thus  in  that  remarkable  group,  the  lung- 
fishes,  and  in  some  catfish-forms,  serpent  heads,  and 
others,  there  is  a  peculiar  habit  of  burying  themselves 
in  the  mud,  which,  in  connection  with  their  mucus, 
forms  a  sort  of  plaster  or  cement  ball  around  them, 
in  which  they  go  to  sleep  till  the  rains  come  again. 

Thus  a  lungfish  (called  Protopterus\  found  in 
Asia  and  Africa,  so  completely  slimes  a  ball  of  mud 
12 


156  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

around  it  that  it  may  live  thus  for  more  than  one 
season — perhaps  many ;  it  has  been  dug  up  and 
sent  to  England,  still  inclosed  in  its  round  mud  case, 
and  when  it  was  placed  in  warm  water  it  awoke  as 
well  as  ever. 

This  remarkable  manner  of  spending  the  summer 
is  called  "  aestivation,"  in  distinction  from  "  hiberna- 
tion." One  means  simply  the  act  of  spending  the 
summer,  and  the  other  the  act  of  spending  the  winter, 
but  we  usually  associate  the  idea  of  a  sort  of  sleep 
with  each  of  the  words.  This  sleep,  however,  may 
be  deep  or  scarcely  sleep  at  all,  according  to  the  crea- 
ture and  the  degree  of  cold  or  heat. 

FISH  AND  WEATHER. 

This  activity  of  fishes  at  the  change  of  the  seasons 
is  seen  in  a  much  milder  form  at  certain  changes  of 
the  weather.  Every  one  that  has  studied  fishes  must 
have  noticed  how  much  more  active  than  usual  they 
are  while  it  rains ;  even  those  in  deep  water  become 
playful,  as  if  they  were  delighted  at  it.  Indeed,  it 
is  likely  that  they  are,  since  every  rain  may  mean  a 
flood,  and  a  flood  means  new  fields  open  for  hunting 
—the  hope  of  new  food,  and  a  new  journey. 

All  creatures,  even  children,  often  appear  to  re- 
joice before  a  storm,  or  they  are  at  least  stimulated 
by  the  condition  of  the  air  that  goes  before  storms. 
Likewise  fishes,  *  though  they  may  lie  deep  on  the 
bottoms  of  streams,  feel  the  coming  storm,  being 
influenced  by  the  so-called  "  electrical  conditions  of 
the  air."  Ground  fish,  as  eels,  flatfish,  etc.,  are  espe- 


MIGRATION.  157 

cially  affected  in  this  way,  and  are  said  to  be  much 
excited  by  thunder — quite  likely  by  the  jar  of  the 
earth.  It  is  said  also  that  if  currents  of  electricity 
are  passed  through  water,  the  fish  appear  very  much 
alarmed. 

MIGRATION. 

For  the  great  yearly  movements  of  fishes  we  may 
find  doubtless  more  than  one  cause. 

As  noticed,  one  reason  may  be  that  they  wish  to 
escape  the  cold.  Some  fishes,  as  some  birds,  flee 
southward  or  to  warmer  or  deeper  water,  even  be- 
fore there  is  a  hint  of  winter.  With  many  a  par- 
ticular kind  of  food  which  they  find  in  the  summer 
home  may  depart,  and  they  either  follow  it  or  search 
for  other  kinds  farther  away. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  such  fishes  as  the  salmon 
family,  the  herrings,  shads,  pickerels,  and  many 
others  which  are  so  well  known  to  come  up  the 
smaller  streams  in  the  spring  to  lay  their  eggs,  origi- 
nally had  their  permanent  homes  in  the  upper  ends 
of  these  streams. 

It  may  be  that  as  they  increased  in  number,  and 
food  (consequently)  became  scarce,  they  had  to  mi- 
grate lower  down  the  streams ;  and  they  thus  finally 
came  to  remain  in  the  ocean  or  large,  deep  rivers. 
But,  as  in  the  case  of  the  birds,  there  is  a  yearly 
return  to  safe  places  to  rear  their  young,  up  where 
the  water  is  cool,  clear  and  running.  There  is,  indeed, 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  a  sort  of  home  feeling  may 
exist  among  these  fishes. 


158  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

At  such  seasons  some,  as  the  salmons,  make  jour- 
neys of  hundreds  of  miles — possibly  thousands — to 
their  usual  spawning  places.  As  they  ascend  the 
rivers  they  crowd  over  each  other  pell-mell,  and  leap 
up  over  falls  and  other  obstructions,  often  as  high  as 
fourteen  feet.  Here  they  may  pile  up  into  great 
masses  as  they  try  again  and  again  to  ascend.  They 
do  not  stop  for  food,  rest,  or  safety.  As  they  pass 
the  shallow  or  narrow  places,  they  may  be  captured  in 
the  simplest  manner.  Even  bears  are  known  to  sit 
beside  streams  and  throw  the  fish  out  of  the  water 
with  their  paws  ;  and  foxes  snatch  them  up. 

In  our  more  common  inland  streams,  the  suckers, 
buffaloes,  and  many  others  come  up  in  the  spring,  in 
great  numbers,  and  spend  the  summer.  Usually, 
howrever,  these  great  pell-mell  migrations  are  made 
by  fishes  which  afterward  go  back  to  the  sea  or  rivers 
as  soon  as  the  terrible  egg-laying  business  is  over. 

The  sea-fishes  show  this  habit  in  the  great  shoals 
which  gather  and  come  near  the  shore  year  after  year 
at  nearly  the  same  dates.  Some  morning  the  fisher- 
men awake  and  find  the  coast  waters  alive  with  fishes. 
Often  they  disappear  as  suddenly  as  they  came— at 
times  so  mysteriously  that  it  is  not  known  definitely 
where  many  of  these  shoal  fishes  spend  the  rest  of 
their  time. 

These  movements  are  not  all  connected  with 
spawning,  though  some  of  them  may  be.  A  portion 
of  these  fishes  are  known  to  spawn  in  the  open  sea. 
It  may  be,  however,  that  they  once  had  a  more  per- 
manent home  near  the  coast,  where  they  laid  their 


WHY  THE  MOVEMENT. 


159 


eggs,  at  certain  seasons,  and  still  the  old  instinct  of 
travel  comes  upon  them.  It  is  rather  evident  that 
all  fishes  began  to  exist  first  near  the  shore.  The 
author  believes  that  there  is  in  the  human  race 
even  an  old  wild  desire  to  move  in  the  spring 
and  fall,  an  inheritance  from  our  savage  ancestors 
when  they  roamed  the  hills  and  valleys  for  food  and 
shelter,  as  the 
changes  of  sea- 
sons drove  them 
about  in  the  long 

ago- 
Many  of  these 
shoaling  fishes 
which  do  not 
spawn  near  shore 
approach  it,  be- 
cause they  are 
following  and 
feeding  on  some 
others  which 
come  at  this  time 

for  egg-laying.     Such  times  are  also  the  fishermen's 
opportunity. 

In  discussing  how  fishes  travel  we  must  not  omit 
the  cases  of  the  Remoras,  or  suckfishes,  which  are 
well  known  to  fasten  themselves  (by  means  of  a  suck- 
ing disk  on  top  of  their  heads)  to  sharks  and  other 
good  swimmers,  thus  getting  "free  transportation." 
Other  similar  cases  will  come  up  under  parasitic 
fishes. 


FIG.  60. — Remoras  and  shark. 


TALK   XV. 

What  place  a  fish "  may  hail  from  and  where  is  its  home  when  it 
has  any  ;  or  distribution,  home,  and  haunt. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

How  the  various  kinds  of  fishes  are  scattered  over 
the  globe — that  is,  where  this  family  is  found,  and 
where  that  sort  is  plentiful — is  too  large  a  topic  for 
our  little  book  ;  but  we  can  say  something  about  it. 

It  is  evident  from  many  things  that  fishes  have 
migrated  far  away  from  the  place  where  they  were 
first  formed.  Something  of  this  can  be  seen  from 
their  structure,  the  shape  of  the  young,  etc.,  but  we 
are  not  going  into  that  now.  We  may  note  this  :  that 
the  rocks  show  us  by  their  fossils  that  some  fishes 
which  are  tropical  forms  now,  lived  much  nearer  the 
north  pole  in  the  long  ago  ;  and  that  some  now  living 
mostly  in  the  sea,  as  the  salmons,  have  gone  there 
from  the  fresh  water  and  from  much  colder  waters ; 
hence  they  are  likely  of  arctic  or  northern  origin. 

These  same  rocks,  however,  seem  to  say  rather 
plainly  that  the  sea  was  the  home  of  all  the  early 
fishes,  and  hence  there  must  have  been,  at  first,  a 
migration  into  the  fresh  waters.  The  sea  was  doubt- 
less the  original  birthplace  of  all  life  from  the  fishes 
backward . 

160 


DISTRIBUTION.  161 

Now,  however,  some  sea-fishes  die  at  once  in  fresh 
water.  Thus  the  shanny  can  live  long  out  of  salt 
water,  but  dies  quickly  if  placed  \nfresh  water.  The 
case  is  the  same  with  many  fresh-water  fishes  put  into 
the  sea.  „ 

It  is  found  that  water  enters  into  the  tissues 
(muscles,  skin,  and  other  soft  parts)  of  fishes — even 
into  the  blood.  Salt  water  is  thus  especially  search- 
ing, and  to  many  fresh-water  fishes  it  is  quickly 
fatal. 

As  a  rule  (with  exceptions)  the  fishes  that  are 
widely  spread  over  the  globe  belong  to  very  old 
families. 

In  the  inland  streams  there  may  be  local  distribu- 
tions of  fishes  that  are  more  curious  than  those  of  the 
ocean,  since  there  a  continuous  highway  is  always 
found.  The  tendency  to  explore  new  regions  at  flood 
times,  which  has  been  noted,  accounts  for  many  mys- 
terious and  sudden  appearances  of  fishes  in  newly 
made  ponds.  The  little  sunfishes  are  especially  apt 
to  be  on  hand  soon  after  a  new  pool  is  formed. 

The  author  has  met  this  little  fish,  not  three  inches 
long,  skipping,  by  its  tail  strokes,  along  on  its  side, 
making  very  good  time  up  stream,  in  water  not  a 
fourth  of  an  inch  deep.  When  it  came  to  water  deep 
enough  it  turned  up  edgewise,  but  lay  over  on  its  side 
again  when  a  shallow  place  was  found. 

Sometimes  these  fishes  are  thus  found  far  out  of  the 
beds  of  streams,  when  all  the  ground  has  been  flooded 
with  a  sudden  dash  of  rain.  At  times  the  rain  ceases 
so  suddenly  that  the  fishes  are  left  there,  and  thought- 


162  THE  STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

less  persons  have  found  them  and  believed  that  "  it 
had  rained  fish." 

It  is  not  improbable  at  all  that  tornadoes  may  take 
up  fishes  as  well  as  other  things  and  carry  them  to  great 
distances,  or  that  _at  least  fish-eggs  may  not  be  thus 
carried.  But  it  is  by  no  means  always  necessary  to 
think  that  it  has  rained  things  when  we  can  not  see 
how  they  got  into  certain  places.  The  author  once 
dumped  a  bucket  of  small  catfish  into  a  neighbor's 
pond,  and  was  informed  a  year  later  that  fishes  had 
been  rained  into  it. 

It  is  possible  also  that  fish -eggs  may  pass  unhurt 
through  the  digestive  tracts  of  birds,  or  that  in  their 
slimy  stringy  jellylike  covering  may  stick  to  the  feet 
of  swimming  or  wading  birds,  and  be  dropped  into 
new  pools.  In  many  cases  the  spawn  of  fishes  shows 
great  ability  to  live  long  in  unfavorable  surround- 
ings. 

Some  of  these  methods  may  account  for  fishes 
being  found  above  very  high  falls,  though,  in  a  few 
cases,  it  is  more  likely  that  the  fishes  were  up  there 
before  the  falls  were  there.  Then,  too,  in  times  of 
great  floods,  some  may  have  come  overland  from  an- 
other stream  on  another  slope,  and  entered  this  stream 
from  the  top  above  the  falls. 

The  little  sunfish  noted  was  only  a  mile  north  of 
the  crest  between  the  slopes  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Mississippi  Rivers.  It  had  rained  hard  all  that  warm 
April  day ;  and  since  only  a  short,  flat  strip  of  prairie, 
not  a  fourth  of  a  mile  wide,  layvbetween  the  ends  of 
this  little  branch  and  another  that  ran  south  into  the 


HOMES.  163 

Missouri,  the  little  skipper  may  have  actually  made 
its  way  into  the  waters  of  another  great  river. 

In  the  Rocky  Mountains  there  are  many  places 
where,  by  similar  means,  a  fish  from  the  Atlantic  slope 
may  easily  pass  into  the  waters  of  the  Pacific;  arid 
thus  we  might  account  for  some  very  similar  fishes 
being  found  on  both  edges  of  our  continent. 

HOME  AND  HAUNT. 

This  brings  us  more  directly  to  the  consideration 
of  the  homes  and  haunts  of  the  fishes.  Necessarily,  in 
talking  of  peculiarities  of  structure,  a  great  deal  of 
this  has  already  come  out.  Thus  in  the  fins,  shape, 
tail,  barbels,  lungs,  gills,  air-bladders,  teeth,  etc.,  the 
bottom-liers  and  surface  swimmers,  walkers,  climbers, 
fliers,  sleepers,  and  so  on  have  shown  themselves. 
Likewise  in  the  topics  that  are  to  follow,  such  as  feed- 
ing, spawning,  nesting,  capture,  etc.,  much  more  of  it 
will  be  noted. 

But  many  fishes  are  found  in  regions  from  which 
they  stray  short  distances  only,  except  at  certain 
seasons.  These  regions  may  be  truly  called  their 
homes.  In  these  homes  they  have  definite  places 
where  they  lie,  hide,  or  play  most  of  the  time.  These 
are  their  haunts. 

In  general  we  say  that  fishes  are  of  the  sea  (marine) 
or  of  the  fresh  water.  Those  in  the  sea  may  be  nearly 
always  near  the  shore  (littoral),  or  they  are  found 
mostly  in  mid-ocean  (pelagic).  They  may  be  sur- 
face-swimmers or  deep-sea  swimmers.  They  may  be 
ground-fish  in  the  shallow  sea,  or  swimmers  in  the 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

very,  very  deep  sea.  As  in  fresh-water  fishes,  their 
homes  may  be  indicated  by  the  continents  near  whose 
coasts  they  live. 

«Fresh- water  swimmers  also  have  their  homes  indi- 
cated by  the  continents  they  inhabit,  by  the  portions 
of  the  continent  they  are  found  in,  or  the  special  river 
in  which  they  live.  Their  home,  then,  is  much  the 
same  as  their  distribution.  Altitude  seems  to  stop  a 
fish's  progress  rather  quickly — much  more  so  than  the 
same  amount  of  cold  does  when  found  in  the  direction 
of  the  arctic  regions.  It  may  be  caused  possibly  by 
the  thinness  of  the  air.  Perhaps  the  usual  dash  of  the 
mountain  streams  is  discouraging  to  many.  At  any 
rate,  only  those  vigorous  lovers  of  cool  water  and 
plashing  waterfall — the  salmon-folk  seem  to  take 
largely  to  streams  at  great  altitudes.  Even  in  sum- 
mer these  do  not  care  to  go  too  high ;  quite  likely  on 
account  of  the  coolness  of  the  water.  An  old  trout 
fisher  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  will  dip  his  hand  into 
the  water  and  say  that  it  is  "  not  worth  while  to  fish 
up  any  higher ;  the  water  is  too  icy." 

The  haunts  of  fishes  are  more  definite,  and,  quite 
likely  to  us,  more  interesting.  These  may  be  in  the 
places  where  they  hide  from  foe,  where  they  lie  con- 
cealed from  their  prey,  or  the  place  where  they  digest 
their  food,  rest,  and  sleep. 

Our  little  sunfish  hides  beneath  overhanging  weeds 
and  grasses — that  is,  if  the  water  be  clear.  Rocks, 
brush,  the  sides  of  logs,  projecting  banks — anything 
that  conceals  or  protects  may  hide  a  fish.  The  roots 
of  trees  overhanging  the  banks  is  a  favorite  lair  for 


HAUNTS.  165 

our  black  bass  of  the  inland  streams.  From  tliis  he 
darts  out  often,  making  a  great  wave  of  the  water,  at 
some  minnow  that  is  passing  by.  Likewise  drifts 
furnish  a  good  hiding  place.  These  are  much  used 
by  the  large  catfish  of  our  creeks,  and  if  there  be  a 
scum  dammed  in  to  a  sort  of  up-stream  canopy,  above 
the  drift,  the  place  is  especially  attractive. 

Many  large  fishes  depend  simply  upon  the  safety 
that  deep  water  affords — rarely  venturing  out  of  it, 
because  the  shallows  expose  them  greatly.  For  this 
reason  shallow  places  and  small  inlets,  where  little 
branches  come  in,  are  favorite  haunts  of  the  minnow, 
shiners,  chubs,  and  other  small  fishes,  for  here  the 
large  fish  will  not  pursue  them.  Likewise  under  the 
shadows  of  steep  banks,  certain  fishes,  as  our  crappies 
and  others,  lie  in  companies,  and  pounce  in  packs,  as 
wolves,  upon  anything  eatable  that  passes. 

Often  a  fish  has  one  haunt  where  it  feeds  and 
another  where  it  rests  from  its  labors — a  business 
place  and  a  home.  Thus  brook-trouts  are  apt  to  lie 
in  shallow  eddies  just  below  little  falls,  so  that  any- 
thing that  floats  down  may  make  a  circle  or  two, 
giving  a  good  chance  for  examination  and  capture. 
Afterward  they  often  go  to  the  deep,  calm  pools  and 
lie  lazily  near  or  on  the  bottom,  while  digesting  their 
food. 

The  rapid  ripple,  in  which  the  water  is  so  con- 
stantly disturbed  that  an  enemy  from  above  can  not 
see  into  it,  makes  a  good  hiding  place  for  some  strong 
swimmers,  but  they  must  go  out  of  this  occasionally 
and  rest.  The  author  has  seen  a  mountain  trout 


166  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

appear  to  remain  perfectly  still  in  a  current  that 
would  sweep  an  elephant  off  its  feet. 

As  already  mentioned,  there  are  some  of  the  shoal 
fishes  of  whose  homes,  after  they  leave  the  shore,  we 
know  very  little  or  nothing.  So  others  roam  the  sur- 
face in  a  constant  aimless  search,  having  a  haunt 
anywhere  that  a  prospect  of  food  is  offered.  Thus 
sharks  may  cross  the  ocean  with  vessels,  to  get  what 
may  be  thrown  overboard,  and  the  little  pilot  fish 
may  follow  likewise  for  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  its 
larger  friend's  table.  These  and  others  can  be  said 
to  keep  house  upon  or  near  the  surface. 

But  there  are  in  the  ocean  many  special  haunts  of 
fishes — too  many  for  our  space.  Shells,  rocks,  sea- 
weeds, caverns,  and  nooks  innumerable  offer  hiding 
places.  Some  little  fishes  find  traveling  homes  in 
floating  masses  of  seaweed,  with  which  their  colors 
may  so  blend  or  their  tentacles  or  bartels  so  twine  as 
to  render  the  body  scarcely  noticeable. 

There  comes  in  here  also  the  mention  again  of 
those  deep-sea  fishes  which  show  by  their  structure 
and  kinship  that  they — their  forefathers  rather — once 
lived  more  nearly  to  the  surface  than  at  the  bottom. 
~No  one  of  them  belongs  to  a  peculiar  family  of  its 
own.  They  are  many  of  them  eel -forms,  and  some  of 
them  have  near  relatives,  as  the  sharks,  swimming 
yet  high  above  them. 

It  is  very  evident  that  fishes  have  often  changed, 
not  only  their  homes,  as  we  saw  under  Distribution, 
but  their  haunts  as  well ;  and  with  change  of  haunt 
and  habit  has  come  change  of  structure.  That  is  the 


PARASITIC  FISHES.  167 

reason  the  author  wishes  you  to  be  a  little  patient 
with  the  structure  of  the  parts  of  fishes ;  for  these 
finny  folk,  as  well  as  people,  often  tell,  without  mean- 
ing it,  where  they  have  lived.  We  frequently  know 
that  a  man  is  from  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Missouri,  or 
Mississippi  by  his  use  of  words  and  his  tones.  So  if 
we  study  fishes  they  may  speak  out  through  fin,  tail, 
barbel,  etc.,  whence  they  have  come,  and  what  they 
have  been  or  are  now  doing.  We  may  say  to  them 
as  was  said  to  Simon  Peter :  "  We  know  thou  art  a 
Galilean ;  thy  speech  bewrayeth  thee." 

Many  fishes  make  their  homes  in  underground 
streams  and  in  caves.  Some  of  these  become  totally 
blind,  because  in  their  haunts  they  have  little  use  for 
eyes.  Well-known  instances  are  found  in  the  Mam- 
moth Cave  of  Kentucky  and  other  caves  of  our  own 
country,  and  in  the  caves  of  Cuba. 

PARASITIC  FISHES. 

Besides  simply  hiding  among  sponges,  corals,  and 
other  living  animals  of  the  sea,  some  few  fishes  live 
close  about  the  mouth  of  sea- anemones,  starfishes, 
etc.,  where  they  may  not  only  hide  among  the  feelers 
or  fringed  tentacles  of  their  hosts,  but  may  share  the 
food  which  is  drifted  that  way  or  drawn  in  at  the 
mouth.  There  have  been  rather  romantic  statements 
made  that,  at  the  approach  of  an  enemy  of  the  true 
fish,  these  feelers  of  the  host  close  around  the  guest 
and  protect  it ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  considerable 
salt  had  better  be  sprinkled  over  that  fish-story. 

Other  little  fishes  have  been  more  impudent  and 


168  THE  STORY   OP   THE  FISHES. 

daring  still,  and  have  made  their  homes  within  the 
mouths  of  other  fishes.  In  that  great  space  that  is  in 
the  back  part  of  the  mouth  (pharynx)  of  the  angler 
or  fishing-frog — something  like  that  which  belongs  to 
the  amphibious  fishes — it  is  said  that  a  little  fish  is 
often  found  living  comfortably.  Here  what  comes  to 
the  angler's  mill  is  grist  to  the  little  guest. 

Likewise  other  instances  of  this  kind  have  been 
noted,  until  there  is  much  doubt  cast  upon  the  state- 
ment that  certain  fishes  carry  their  young  about  in 
their  mouths,  since  the  so-called  young  may  be  little 
parasites.  This  latter  is  an  equally  interesting  habit, 
however — in  fact,  quite  human ;  for  so  many  of  us 
take  better  care  of  other  grown  folk  that  come  to 
see  us  than  we  do  of  our  own  children.  We  little 
people  know  how  that  is :  "  Now,  dear,  you  run  away 
and  wait  till  mamma's  company  has  eaten." 

Beyond  all  this  a  certain  eel-form  is  known  to  live 
in  the  stomach  and  breathing  places  of  the  so-called 
sea-cucumber  (Holothuri(i),  and  even  inside  of  the 
shells  of  mollusks.  The  most  usual  one  is  called 
Fierasfer.  (See  Fig.  18,  p.  36.)  It  depends,  of 
course,  solely  upon  its  host  for  food. 

HOMING  INSTINCT. 

While  this  topic  was  mentioned  under  Migration, 
perhaps  there  is  no  better  place  than  this  to  state 
that  fishes,  as  well  as  other  creatures,  show  a  love  for 
their  haunts  or  homes  and  have  that  mysterious  abil- 
ity to  return  to  them  quickly.  In  the  cases  of  such  as 
live  in  small  streams  or  even  rivers,  the  shape  of  the 


GUIDING   INSTINCT.  169 

bottom  and  banks,  or  the  direction  of  the  current, 
may  guide  them.  Dr.  Abbott  mentions  that  he  took 
a  fish  away  from  its  home  some  distance,  and  when 
he  ran  quickly  back  to  the  place,  it  was  already  there 
ahead  of  him. 

In  this  case  the  fish  may  not  have  been  taken  be- 
yond its  usual  range,  and  perhaps  knew  the  way.  But 
in  those  shoaling  fishes  that  go  great  journeys  through 
the  sea  and  come  back,  without  sight  of  land,  to  the 
same  place  so  accurately,  there  is  some  sort  of  guid- 
ing sense  which  is  not  so  easily  explained.  They 
doubtless  have  a  remarkable  sense  of  direction  and  a 
remarkable  memory  of  the  changes  of  direction  that 
have  been  made,  as  well  as  an  accurate  idea  of  the 
distance  traveled  each  way.  The  story  that  the  di- 
rections of  waves,  currents,  stars,  etc.,  guide  them  is 
scarcely  to  be  credited.  Like  every  other  sense,  this 
is  doubtless  more  complete  in  an  old  fish  than  in  a 
young  one,  and  is  therefore  greatly  improved  by  ex- 
perience— as  this  same  faculty  is  cultivated  in  a  hom- 
ing pigeon  ;  but  it  is  an  extra  power  of  some  kind 
which  the  acutest  senses  of  man,  unaided  by  special 
instruments,  can  not  compete  with  or  even  approach. 

A  fish,  unlike  a  bird,  can  not  look  far  around 
it,  which  fact  excludes  all  chance  of  guidance  by  sur- 
roundings. 


TALK  XVI. 

Why  a  fish  may  love  its  fellows,  and  how  it  may  win  a  mate  and 
bring  up  its  children;  or,  shoaling,  courting,  nesting,  spawn- 
ing, care  of  young,  etc. 

WHY  these  migrating  fishes  are  thus  crowded  into 
such  great  shoals  is  a  question  not  easily  answered. 
Little  fishes  in  small  groups  are  frequently  seen  to 
follow  each  other  blindly  in  their  movements.  Pos- 
sibly one  of  them  only  will  see  an  object  and  dart  at 
or  flee  from  it,  when,  without  any  hesitation,  all  the 
others  try  to  do  exactly  the  same  thing.  This  habit 
puts  the  senses  of  every  fish  at  the  command  or  use 
of  every  other  one,  and  may  really  be  of  great  help. 
The  mere  feeling  of  safety  in  the  presence  of  others, 
or  the  fact  that  misery  loves  company,  may  be  the 
first  instinct  that  moves  all  free  creatures  to  collect 
together. 

In  those  fishes  which  pursue  others  it  is  quite 
helpful  to  go  in  flocks,  as  wolves  pursue  prey  in  packs. 
If  the  prey  rush  from  one  it  may  fall  to  the  other. 
Thus  it  is  often  noticed  that  flying  fishes  even,  when 
frightened  by  one  fish,  may  fall  into  the  open  jaws  of 
another,  since  these  pursuers  follow  them  in  great 
spreading  companies. 

It  may  be  that  it  is  no  advantage  now  to  the  small 
fishes  pursued  to  be  crowded  together;  in  fact,  it 
170 


WHY  THEY  ARE   SOCIAL. 

would  seem  to  be  a  great  disadvantage,  since  so  many 
more  can  be  captured  at  a  gulp  or  a  dash.  But  it  is 
possible  that  in  the  pursuit  of  their  own  prey  this 
crowding  is  of  great  advantage.  Possibly  if  not  a 
help  now,  it  may  have  been  helpful  at  one  time  to 
their  forefathers,  and  it  is  now  kept  up  as  a  habit 
which  they  have  not  yet  changed.  Many  useless 
habits  now  are  vestiges  (left-over  things)  of  some 
which  were  useful  long  ago,  when  the  family  customs 
or  the  surroundings  generally  were  different ;  just  as 
we  human  folk  wear  rings  in  our  ears  and  on  our 
lingers  and  birds  on  our  hats,  because  some  savage 
ancestor  ages  ago  had  the  habit  of  doing  so. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  groupings  are 
selfish,  yet  the  constant  association  may  build  here,  as 
among  the  higher  creatures,  a  sort  of  love  for  a  fel- 
low-traveler or  fellow-hunter. 

AFFECTIONS  OF  FISHES. 

But  the  more  fellowlike  feeling  between  fishes  is 
not  developed  so  much  in  this  way  as  it  is  in  a  few 
cases  between  the  two  parents,  or  between  parent  and 
children. 

In  most  instances,  however,  there  seems  to  be  (in 
fact,  according  to  their  habits,  there  can  not  help  but 
be)  a  total  lack  of  affection  between  the  two  parents 
or  between  parent  and  young.  Often  the  female 
goes  to  the  spawning  place  far  ahead  of  the  male, 
and  they  never  see  each  other  unless  by  accident. 
She  deposits  her  eggs  and  goes  away,  and  the  male 
finds  these  eggs  only  to  call  forth  his  attention.  Over 
13 


172  THE  STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

them  he  deposits  his  milt — a  fluid  necessary  to  make 
them  hatch — and  away  he  goes  also,  leaving  the  little 
fish  an  orphan. 

In  some  other  cases  the  parents  go  paired,  side  by 
side,  to  their  spawning  grounds,  remaining  very  near 
each  other  while  there,  and  it  is  thought  by  many 
students  that  they  remain  paired  ever  after. 

Of  course,  in  those  fishes,  noted  hereinafter,  which 
have  their  eggs  hatched  within  the  body,  a  much 
more  intimate  association  must  exist  between  the 
parents.  Between  these  comminglings  and  those 
where  there  is  no  meeting  at  all  there  are  all  grades 
of  association,  some  of  which  are  not  yet  well  under- 
stood. 

SEX. 

There  are  found  in  all  fishes,  no  matter  what  the 
sex,  rather  high  up  in  the  body-cavity,  two  long,  yel- 
low, fatty  bodies.  That  of  the  female  is  called  the 
roe,  and  may,  in  bony  fishes,  be  often  told  from  that 
of  the  male  by  being  simply  a  long  sac  filled  with 
little  shotlike  balls,  which  are  the  eggs. 

At  times,  however,  it  is  impossible  to  tell  one  sex 
from  the  other.  It  is  stated  also  that  a  few  fishes 
have  both  kinds  of  bodies  in  them,  and  are  hence  both 
male  and  female.  But  this  is  very  rare. 

Just  before  the  spawning  season  this  sac  grows 
very  large,  and  is  often  worth  more  for  food  than  the 
fish  itself.  At  the  proper  time  this  sac  bursts  and  the 
eggs  are  laid.  Sometimes  there  is  a  special  tube  by 
which  they  leave  the  sac,  and  sometimes  they  drop 
into  the  body  cavity  and  simply  run  out. 


KINDS  OF  EGGS.  173 

EGGS. 

The  eggs  of  even  our  bony  fishes  are  not  all  of 
the  same  size,  though  they  are  usually  round  like  a 
ball.  As  a  rule,  the  larger  the  eggs  the  fewer  there 
are  of  them.  In  the  bony  fishes  the  number  may  be 
millions  from  a  single  mother  at  one  spawning.  It 
seems  to  be  rather  a  rule  with  Nature  that  creatures 
which  have  many  enemies  (either  of  eggs,  the  young, 
or  the  adult)  lay  many  eggs. 

The  eggs  of  the  shark-forms  are  not  round,  but 
are  often  pillow-shaped,  with  little  strings  or  tendrils 
at  each  of  the  four  corners. 
These  latter  may  twine 
around  anything,  as  sea- 
weed,  and  thus  anchor  the 
egg  till  it  hatches.  These 
eggs  are  usually  covered 
with  a  sort  of  horny  or 
leathery  shell,  while  the  FIG.  61. -Egg  of  Skate. 

eggs  of  the  ordinary  fishes  are  soft,  with  their  skin 
(membrane)  only  around  them. 

This  great  difference  in  the  eggs  of  fishes  is  quite 
interesting  and  peculiar.  It  is  remarkable  that  in 
those  low  fishes,  the  lamprey -forms,  the  true  lampreys 
have  eggs  that  are  small  and  soft,  while  in  the  hag- 
fishes  they  are  large,  horny,  and  in  many  respects 
quite  like  those  of  the  sharks. 

So  the  split-up  over  eggs  must  have  started  low 
down  in  the  fishes. 

The  eggs  of  the  bony  fishes  may  be  placed  almost' 


174  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

anywhere.  Often  they  float  upon  the  surface  in  long, 
stringy,  fiat  bands  or  masses.  Those  of  the  angler 
are  said  to  lie  as  a  pink  band  of  jelly,  a  foot  wide  and 
forty  feet  long,  floating  upon  the  ocean.  Sometimes 
these  masses  lie  on  the  sand,  or  the  eggs  may  be  scat- 
tered singly  around  here  and  there,  anywhere,  on  the 
bottom. 

NESTS. 

Many  fishes,  as  noted,  have  special  shores,  sand 
banks,  or  other  places,  where  they  go  to  spawn,  just  as 
some  birds  have  special  nesting  places  (rookeries). 
We  have  seen  how  they  go  thousands  of  miles  to  reach 
these  places.  The  salmon  seems  to  think  of  the  place 
where  it  was  born,  and  feels  that  it  would  like  to  go 
back  and  bring  its  babes  up  in  the  old  home  region. 

Other  fishes  dig  holes  to  place  their  eggs  in,  as  the 
toadfishes  and  the  catfishes  of  our  inland  streams. 

Among  the  true  nest- builders,  the  various  mem- 
bers of  the  stickleback  family  are  usually  quoted  and 
figured ;  but  the  habit  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
these.  In  some  miller's-thumbs  (many  of  which  are 
found  on  our  northern  borders),  some  lumpsuckers  of 
the  sea,  and  some  serpent-heads  of  Africa,  a  nest  is 
often  built  by  the  males.  Some  of  the  wrasses,  those 
thick-lipped  and  parrot-mouthed  folk,  heap  up  nests 
out  of  seaweed,  shells,  and  any  convenient  material. 

In  some  of  the  common  little  chubs  of  our  creeks, 
there  is  the  habit  of  heaping  a  pile  of  pebbles,  upon 
the  first  layer  of  which  eggs  are  laid ;  then  more  peb- 
bles and  more  eggs,  till  quite  a  little  mound  is  formed. 
In  those  regions  where  the  word  "  tote  "  is  used  when 


PECULIAR  NESTS.  175 

"  carry  "  or  "  convey  "  is  meant,  the  author  has  heard 
these  little  fishes  called  "  stone-toters "  by  the  rural 
folk,  because,  likely,  of  this  peculiar  habit.  The  name 
more  properly  belongs  to  one  of  the  suckers. 

Our  little  sunfishes  build  nests  that  are  mere  shal- 
low cups  scooped  in  the  bottom,  but  they  are  homes 
to  these  little  folk,  and  they  fight  for  them  bravely. 
They  are  often  social  in  their  nesting,  as  are  many 
birds — that  is,  they  nest  near  to  each  other,  and  have 
paths  and  byways  leading  in  among  the  growing 
plants  on  the  bottom,  like  those  of  the  field  mice  and 
the  hares.  Many  other  fishes,  too  many  to  notice, 
build  this  sort  of  nest — a  mere  depression. 

Some  of  the  cousins  of  the  angler — one  especially, 
known  only  by  its  scientific  name  as  Antennarius, 
belonging  to  the  same  family  as  the  frogfishes  and 
mousefish — seem  to  sew  bits  of  seaweed  together  into 
a  little  nest  in  which  they  put  their  eggs.  This  is 
attached  to  a  floating  home  of  seaweed  in  which  the 
fish  lives,  and  the  nest  here  is  more  a  cradle  than  a 
house.  In  this  case  the  threads  are  made  of  a  sort  of 
mucus  spun  out  as  fine  as  spider  webs,  and  often  there 
seems  to  be  more  of  this  than  there  is  of  the  weeds. 

As  there  is  one  bird,  the  Chinese  swift,  whose 
nest  is  all  glue  or  cement,  so  there  is  one  fish  that  has 
this  kind  of  nest.  In  this  case  the  male  is  said  to  pick 
up  the  eggs  and  blow  them  from  his  mouth  along 
with  a  lot  of  mucus  bubbles.  These  bunch  together, 
as  bubbles  in  soapy  water  do  so  beautifully,  and,  hard- 
ening or  drying,  form  a  light,  floating  nest,  one  of 
the  neatest  things  in  Nature — a  little,  unsinkable  ark, 


176 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 


in   which  this  father  sends   out  his  babes  into  the 
world. 

While  others  lay  their  eggs  for  safety  in  holes 
already  made,  in  crevices  of  rocks,  or  between  and 


FIG.  62. — Antennarius  and  nest. 


under  stones,  or  simply  in  masses  of  seaweed  and 
other  things,  there  are  many  that  never  even  seem  to 
come  near  shore  or  shallow  water  or  other  safe  places 


POUCHES  FOR  YOUNG.  177 

to  spawn,  but  drop  their  eggs  anywhere  in  mid-ocean. 
Thus  mackerel  are  known  to  spawn  at  sea,  and  the 
young  of  many  other  fishes  are  found  so  far  out  from 
shore  that  they  must  have  been  hatched  in  mid-ocean. 
A  few  iishes  spawn  in  winter. 

CAKE  OF  YOUNG. 

While,  as  we  noticed,  so  many  fishes  are  careless 
about  their  young,  we  find  a  few,  such  as  these  nest- 
builders,  who  seem  thoughtful,  and  there  are  some 
other  very  striking  cases  where  the  eggs  and  the 
young  are  cared  for. 

We  have  noticed  that  some  fishes  fight  for  the 
defense  of  their  nests,  and  the  sticklebacks  and  sun- 
fish,  black  bass,  and  others,  are  noted  for  staying  by 
their  eggs.  In  this  case  it  is  usually  the  male  which 
battles,  though  in  most  bony  fishes  the  female  is 
larger  and  better  able  to  fight ;  but  she  so  often 
seems  an  unnatural  mother,  not  only  ndt  caring  for 
her  eggs,  but  really  wishing  to  eat  them.  Mr.  Dar- 
win notes  that  one  Old-World  stickleback  has  to 
fight  his  mate  almost  constantly  to  prevent  this. 

In  only  a  few  cases  does  the  mother  take  charge 
of  the  young,  but  some  of  these  are  so  peculiar  as 
to  deserve  notice,  especially  among  certain  catfishes. 
Even  in  those  of  our  creeks  a  little  close  watching 
will  show  a  parent — said  to  be  the  father — swimming 
directly  beneath  the  young,  which,  like  a  dark  shadow, 
seem  to  float  upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  usually 
late  in  the  hot  summer  afternoon.  In  another  branch 
of  the  family  the  mother,  at  the  time  when  her  eggs 


178  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

are  laid,  has  the  lower  part  of  her  body  softened  and 
made  jellylike  or  spongy.  This  she  presses  down 
upon  the  eggs,  and  they  stick  to  her  and  finally  be- 
come fastened  by  a  little  capsule  having  a  stem  grow- 
ing out  from  her  around  each  one  of  them.  When 
they  hatch,  the  little  fish  bursts  out  of  these  capsules. 
Another  kind  of  catfish  has  folds  or  wrinkles  of  skin 
below  in  which  the  eggs  lodge.  This  is  likely  a  de- 
velopment from  the  other  peculiarity,  as  we  shall  see 
is  the  case  in  another  family. 

In  the  pipefishes  and  their  near  kin,  with  tubular 
mouths,  tufted  gills,  and  curling  tails,  you  remember, 
there  is  found  something  very  similar  to  this  last  case. 
Here  the  spongy  flesh  is  evidently  the  beginning  of 
something  higher.  In  another  case  (the  only  instance 
in  the  family,  it  is  said,  where  the  female  is  concerned) 
there  is  a  sort  of  pocket,  formed  evidently  by  the 
growing  together  of  the  ventral  fins,  in  which  the 
eggs  are  carried  and  hatched.  In  all  the  others  it  is 
the  male  solely  that  has  pouches,  and  in  them  these 
pouches  are  much  better  or  deeper  than  in  the  female 
noted,  and  they  often  extend  from  the  tail  up  to  the 
throat,  and  are  drawn  in  a  little,  like  the  old-fash- 
ioned purse,  to  keep  the  little  fishes  from  getting  out 
too  soon.  When  the  father  thinks  it  time  for  the 
young  to  depart,  he  stands  rather  erect  in  the  water 
(the  usual  position  even  in  swimming),  and,  scraping 
himself  downward  past  the  edge  of  a  rock,  shell,  or 
something  else,  he  forces  the  little  fellows  out  into  the 
world  to  shift  for  themselves.  See  picture,  Fig.  24, 
on  page  48,  of  a  sea-horse  in  the  act  of  doing  this. 


WHY   THEY   PLAY. 


179 


The  female  is  said  to  place  these  eggs  in  the 
pouch  of  the  male.  It  has  even  been  claimed  that  a 
peculiar  mucus  or  fluid  is  secreted  in  these  pockets  of 


FIG.  63. — Stickleback  and  nest. 


the  sea  horse,  which,  for  a  while,  forms  the  food  of 
the  little  fishes,  much  as  a  sort  of  milk  is  secreted  in 
the  crops  of  pigeons  with  which  they  feed  their  young. 


180  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  some  such  way  in 
the  pouched  mammals,  as  the  opossum  group,  the 
habit  of  furnishing  milk  to  the  young  began.  Na- 
ture is  a  great  hinter  of  better  things  that  she  is  going 
to  do  after  a  while — a  comforting  sort  of  thought  to 
those  who  hope  and  trust. 

In  another  South  American  catfish  (or  one  be- 
longing to  the  great  catfish  family,  perhaps  the  most 
widely  distributed  fresh-water  fishes  known)  the 
father  takes  the  eggs  in  his  mouth,  carries  them  about, 
and  they  are  hatched  and  live  for  a  while  in  his  broad, 
deep  pharynx  or  gill  cavity.  You  recall  that  some 
fishes  were  found  parasitically  boarding  here,  which 
are  not  the  children,  and  that  some  doubts  have  been 
cast  upon  this  fatherly  habit.  But  others— one  in 
India — do  the  same  thing,  and  a  certain  fish  in  the 
Sea  of  Galilee  is  said  to  carry  the  eggs  in  its  mouth. 
There  is  no  record  of  the  young  running  into  the 
parent's  mouth  to  escape  enemies,  as  some  of  the  lit- 
tle snakes  are  said  to  do. 

In  the  low  fishes,  as  the  sharks  and  sturgeons, 
there  is  no  care  of  the  young  known,  and  in  most 
cases  the  little  ones  are  orphans  always,  dodging 
around  to  escape  the  jaws  of  something  larger — often 
those  of  their  own  parents.  In  no  class  of  animals 
are  there  so  many  that  prey  upon  each  other  as  in  the 
fishes. 

PLAY  AND  DISPLAY. 

This  topic  is  suggested  not  by  fishes  caring  for 
young,  but  for  each  other.  We  have  already  noticed 
how  they  may  go  in  shoals  when  grown,  or  in  schools 


THEIR  INTELLIGENCE.  181 

when  young,  and  thus  grow  perhaps  to  like  each 
other,  though  some  of  these,  as  our  catiishes  which 
play  in  troops  when  little,  become  solitary  and  selfish 
when  they  get  very  large. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  fishes  play.  As  is 
usual  with  animals,  this  may  consist  largely  of  mock 
fights,  chases,  and  retreats,  which  things  show  how  a 
fish  can  see  a  joke  and  take  one.  It  implies  a  sense 
of  humor — a  sense  which  every  human  is  not  largely 
endowed  with. 

Little  fishes,  apparently  in  pure  glee,  sometimes 
leap  entirely  out  of  the  water.  Play  here,  as  with 
children,  seems  to  take  on  the  art  of  pleasing,  as  it 
does  in  all  animals.  Who  has  not  seen  a  dog  trying 
to  coax  another  into  good  humor  by  play  ? 

But  play  for  pleasing  may  take  on  the  form  of 
display —  the  wrong  sort  of  play  which  so  many  of  us, 
not  scaly  or  finny,  indulge  in.  We  have  already  seen, 
under  "  Color,"  that  at  the  social  seasons  certain  orna- 
ments and  brilliant  markings  may  appear,  and  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  our  little  aquatic  friend  is  found 
at  times  showing  off  in  a  very  earnest  yet  undignified 
manner,  either  to  charm  his  sweetheart  or  to  make 
his  rival  feel  bad.  You  know  we  all  use  our  pretty 
things  in  these  two  ways,  and  it  is  to  be  recorded  to 
our  shame  that  we  often  enjoy  the  one  as  much  as 
the  other,  having  become  no  better  than  the  fishes 
in  this  respect. 

We  have  noted  that  the  nest  is  usually  or  often 
built  by  the  male.  He  has  been  seen,  after  its  com- 
pletion, to  go  to  a  certain  finny  lass  which  he  doubt- 


182  THE  STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

less  preferred  above  all  others,  and,  by  showing  her 
all  his  "  beauty  spots,"  by  dancing,  turning,  and  run- 
ning in  and  out  of  the  nest,  to  offer  her,  along  with 
his  devoted  heart,  a  home  already  fitted  up — a  thing 
that  is  often  very  fetching  among  us  human  folk. 

After  the  proper  degree  of  hesitation  and  modesty, 
she  accepts  by  going  into  the  nest,  when  the  little 
lover's  joy  seems  to  know  no  bounds,  and  doubtless 
his  little  cold-blooded  heart  is  warmer  a  degree  or  so. 

It  is  certain  that  many  of  these  fishes  remain 
paired  for  a  season  or  two,  perhaps  for  life ;  but  at 
each  season  it  is  quite  likely — or  at  each  anniversary 
of  their  marriage  rather,  as  is  well  known  to  be  the 
case  with  some  birds — the  husband  insists  on  a  silver 
or  golden  wedding  that  shall  give  him  the  chance  and 
the  pleasure  of  living  over  the  romance  of  their  first 
courtship.  We  human  folk  are  not  so  much  ahead  of 
everything  in  everything. 

Fishes  are  often  spoken  of  as  cold-blooded,  unfeel- 
ing sort  of  creatures.  Usually  they  may  be ;  but  we 
are  growing  of  late  to  look  for  love  and  the  root  of 
all  that  is  good  in  us  in  many  of  the  things  below  us. 
God  did  not  wait  for  man  alone  that  love  and  sacri- 
fice might  live. 

We  have  seen  some  wonderful  instances  of  care 
of  the  young :  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this." 
An  equal  love  for  mates  is  often  seen,  though  a  fish, 
like  a  human,  marries  again  if  its  mate  be  killed.  Dr. 
Abbott  says  that  he  once  killed  the  mate  of  a  little 
fish  and  put  the  body  into  the  nest ;  when  the  re- 
maining one  discovered  the  dead  spouse  its  show  of 


SINGING  PISHES.  183 

grief  was  so  great  that  he  felt  sure  that  he  should 
never  try  the  experiment  again. 

If  the  author  wanted  to  use  a  big  word  he  would 
say  that  he  had  just  been  talking  to  you  a  little  about 
the  psychology  of  the  fishes.  But  he  will  have  to 
let  much  of  their  common  sense  and  smartness  pass, 
except  as  you  may  note  it  in  other  topics.  Usually, 
when  not  desperately  in  love  or  almost  starved,  a  fish 
is  not  a  fool  by  any  means ;  and  this  is  about  as  much 
as  can  be  said  of  many  of  the  rest  of  us. 

There  are  fishes  that  thrust  their  heads  above 
water  and  call  or  sing,  doubtless  either  to  attract  or 
charm  their  mates.  The  rule  is  that  such  musical 
fishes  are  not  very  pretty.  They  presume  more  upon 
their  accomplishments  than  upon  their  fine  clothes. 


TALK  XVII. 

What  a  fish  may  eat  and  how  it  may  get  it,  and  how  it  is  hatched 
and  gets  its  growth  ;  or  food,  hatching,  and  growth. 

A  FISH  eats  much  as  any  other  creature  does, 
and  its  food,  by  means  of  the  digestive  tract  and  the 
circulation,  is  carried  to  the  various  parts  to  build 
them  up.  After  it  is  aerated,  the  blood  carries  with 
it  the  stimulus  of  the  oxygen,  so  that  the  food  is 
actually  broken  down,  consumed,  or  burned  in  some 
way  that  we  do  not  understand.  This  destruction  of 
the  food,  or  of  the  tissues  that  it  has  built,  produces 
energy  or  force — somewhat  as  the  destruction  of  the 
zinc  in  a  battery  produces  electric  force,  or  that  of 
the  coal  under  a  boiler  produces  expanding  force. 

We  must  not  feel,  however,  that  the  process  is  as 
simple  as  the  examples  given.  That  mysterious  force 
called  Life  comes  in  here  and  makes  this  battery  un- 
like any  other  battery,  and  this  furnace  and  boiler 
unlike  any  other  furnace  and  boiler. 

The  forces  which  are  the  result  of  the  consump- 
tion of  food  are  of  two  kinds  in  fishes  and  the  higher 
creatures.  The  first  is  a  nervous  force,  whose  busi- 
ness is  largely  to  set  up  and  restrain  again  that  other 
peculiar  force  known  as  muscle -pull. 

Under  the  next  topic  we  shall  see,  just  a  little, 
how  these  things  are  arranged. 
184  " 


FOOD   AND  FORCE.  185 

As  already  noted,  the  hot-blooded  animals  convert 
more  of  their  food  into  heat  than  the  fishes  do.  The 
latter  can  doubtless  convert  part  of  the  food  into 
force  without  forming  heat,  just  as  some  of  them  con- 
vert it  into  light  without  heat.  We  have  seen,  also, 
that  they  make  electricity  without  heat. 

As  a  rule,  fishes  are  very  greedy  feeders — espe- 
cially at  certain  seasons.  As  noticed  in  the  codfishes, 
the  liver  seems  to  become  a  great  storehouse  of  fat, 
a  substance  which  in  animals  is  another  name  for  the 
best  of  fuel  or  force- maker. 

But  there  are  seasons  when  some  fishes  may  fast 
for  great  periods  and  yet  remain  active.  This  is  fre- 
quently noticed  in  the  goldfish  of  the  aquariums; 
and  any  angler  knows  that  there  are  long  periods 
when  the  fishes  of  fresh  water  do  not  appear  to  feed 
at  all  ;  then  come  other  times  when  they  "  rise,"  or 
"  bite  "  well. 

It  is  a  singular  thing  that  some  creatures  can  fast 
for  long  periods,  if  left  undisturbed,  and  yet  lose  almost 
no  appreciable  weight.  It  is  said  that  while  fresh- 
water fishes  may  go  for  months  without  food,  a  few 
days  of  fasting  kill  the  marine  fishes. 

As  we  have  seen  from  a  study  of  the  stomach  and 
teeth  that  fish  are  both  flesh-eaters  and  vegetable- 
eaters,  observation  of  their  habits  shows  the  same 
thing.  The  carps  and  others  chew  weeds,  as  do  sheep 
and  goats,  while  an  angler  will  take  down  some  living 
animal  at  a  gulp.  Others  swallow  the  mud  of  the 
bottoms  in  great  quantities,  and  allow  their  stomachs 
to  separate  out  and  digest  the  little  food  there  is  in 


186  THE   STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

it,  and  reject  the  un digestible  matter.  They  have 
thus  no  need  of  taste  or  teeth. 

In  the  gizzard-shad  the  stomach  has  so  much  to 
do  in  the  way  of  grinding  food  that  Nature  has 
thickened  its  walls  into  a  gizzard — such  as  the  vege- 
table-eating birds  possess. 

We  have  frequently  had  to  refer  to  the  kind  of 
food  a  fish  used,  and  the  way  it  captured  or  ate  it. 
Food-taking,  the  all -important  thing  in  life,  is  asso- 
ciated with  every  form  of  structure,  with  every  part 
of  the  body;  and  a  slight  review  or  general  collection 
of  some  of  the  more  striking  feeding  habits  may  not 
be  out  of  place. 

Fishes  that  feed  by  gnawing  or  scooping  at  the 
half-hardened  parts  of  corals  have  teeth  set  for  the 
purpose,  or  beaks  shaped  for  cutting  them  up — beaks 
somewhat  similar  to  those  of  such  birds  as  the  par- 
rots, grosbeaks,  etc.  In  these  cases  the  fish  often  lives 


FIG.  64.— The  hagfish. 

or  hides  among  the  branches  of  the  coral,  so  that 
it  finds  here  both  home  and  pantry — bed  and  food. 

We  have  noted  such  fishes  as  live  inside  of  other 
creatures.     The  hagfish,  however,  first  fastens  itself 


VARIOUS  FEEDING   METHODS.  187 

upon  a  fish  by  means  of  its  sucking  mouth  and  pis- 
ton! ike  tongue ;  and  it  finally,  by  means  of  a  ring  of 
teeth  around  this  tongue,  bores  a  round  hole  into  its 
prey  and  enters  the  body.  This  eventually  means 
death  to  the  fish  it  fastens  upon,  but  it  is  surprising 
how  long  some  fishes  can  endure  injury.  Fishes  with 
a  sucking  disk  on  top  of  the  head  do  not  feed  upon 
the  host ;  they  simply  catch  on  for  a  free  ride,  as  boys 
hitch  their  sleds  to  a  moving  vehicle. 

We  have  seen,  of  course,  how  most  sharks  seize 
their  prey  and  cut  it  up ;  how  rays  fall  on  theirs  at 
the  bottom,  and  covering  it  with  their  great  wing- 
like  fins,  force  it  into  their  mouths.  But  the  basking 
shark,  among  the  largest  of  the  sharks — and  the  most 
harmless — strains  water  out  through  its  gills,  where 
it  has  a  set  of  special  fringes  to  catch  small  particles 
of  food  as  they  pass.  Its  method  of  feeding  must  be 
very  satisfactory,  for  it  is  often  found  floating  on  the 
surface,  as  if  it  were  full  and  asleep.  It  has  very 
small  teeth.  The  mullets  sift  food  similarly  through  / 
their  gills. 

We  have  had  frequently  to  mention  the  angler's 
habit  of  stirring  up  the  mud  around  it,  and  moving  its 
two  colored  tentacles  above,  so  that  a  fish  might  think 
these  were  worms  wriggling  in  the  mud,  and  be 
lured  to  approach.  This  fact,  it  is  said,  was  known 
to  the  ancient  Greeks.  A  similar  use  is  made  of 
glowing  (phosphorescent)  barbels  by  some  deep-sea 
fishes. 

Besides  the   pursuing    habits   of   the   mud-skip- 
pers, and  the  leaps  of  the   trouts   and  others   after 
14 


188  THE  STORY   OF  THE   FISHES. 

prey  which  is  not  in  the  water,  there  is  another  well- 
known  case,  which  is  always  interesting.  It  reaches 
up  almost  to  human  ingenuity. 

Ornithologists  have  loaded  their  guns  with  mer- 
cury (quicksilver)  to  shoot  specimens  of  humming 
birds.  While  the  plumage  is  not  injured,  the  liquid 
shot  stuns  the  bird.  Some  of  us  know  that  a  man 
may  be  killed  with  a  stream  of  water  from  a  hose, 
and  mountains  are  moved  in  this  way  in  mining. 

A  certain  little  fish,  well  called  the  fly-shooter, 
has  a  tubular  mouth  when  it  is  closed  ;  and  when  it 
sees  an  insect  sitting  on  a  weed  or  limb  overhang- 
ing the  water,  it  swims  slyly  up  under  and  shoots 
out  a  little  jet  of  water  with  such  force  and  good  aim 
that  the  prey  falls  stunned  into  the  water,  and  is 
eaten  before  it  can  recover.  These  fishes  live  in  the 
waters  in  India  and  the  islands  of  Asia.  They  are 
brilliantly  colored  and  beautifully  marked,  and  make 
interesting  pets  in  an  aquarium.  It  is  said  that  they 
can  bring  a  fly  down  four  or  five  feet  away. 

Often,  after  they  are  full,  the  fishes  which  kill 
their  prey  may  keep  on  killing  for  the  enjoyment  of 
pure  cruelty,  just  as  dogs  kill  sheep  or  anything  else, 
as  a  weasel  will  kill  all  the  chickens  in  the  coop,  or 
as  a  boy  or  hunter  will  kill  more  birds,  rabbits,  or 
squirrels  than  he  needs.  But  the  comparisons  are 
sufficient.  Sometimes  near  the  lair  of  a  large  bass, 
bits  of  minnows  will  be  found  floating,  or  a  fisherman 
will  find  his  minnow  bitten  in  two,  or  mangled  by  a 
bass  that  is  full  but  still  in  a  killing  mood. 

While    some   fishes   appear   to   reach  a    limit  in 


HATCHING.  189 

their  growth  which  they  never  pass,  others  seem  as 
if  they  are  large  or  small  in  keeping  with  their 
length  of  life,  and  the  amount  of  food  they  get. 
Thus  a  carp,  like  a  hog,  may  be  fed  up  to  a  great 
size  in  a  short  time,  and  if  given  all  it  can  eat,  there 
is  scarcely  any  telling  how  large  one  might  grow,  for 
these  fishes  live  a  long  time  and  grow,  perhaps,  as  long 
as  they  live.  But  do  what  we  may  with  a  minnow,  a 
darter,  or  a  stickleback,  we  can  rarely  force  it  to  grow 
beyond  three  inches. 

How  A  LITTLE  FISH  GROWS  FEOM  THE  EGG. 

Since  growing  is  so  largely  the  result  of  eating,  it 
may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  see  how  a  little  fish 
grows  from  the  time  it  is  deposited  as  an  egg. 
Those  little  fishes  that  are  born  already  hatched  are 
not  included  in  this  account. 

The  eggs  of  fishes  are  hatched  directly  by  the 
heat  of  the  sun,  or  by  heat  absorbed  from  the  water. 
So  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  fish 
sitting  upon  its  eggs  (incubating)  to  hatch  them. 
This  seems  to  be  useless,  since  the  body  of  the  parent 
is  no  warmer  usually  than  the  water  in  which  it 
swims,  and  it  can  therefore  give  no  warmth  to  its 
eggs. 

But  some  other  cold-blooded  creatures  sit  upon 
their  eggs — perhaps  only  to  guard  them,  but  it  may 
be  to  hasten  their  hatching.  If  this  sitting  (incuba- 
tion) found  its  beginning  in  the  act  of  remaining 
over  the  eggs  to  guard  them — as  it  probably  did — 
then  this  habit  began  at  least  as  far  down  as  the 


190 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 


fishes ;  for  many  of  them  stay  over  their  eggs  and 
guard  them. 

We  shall  omit  all  the  difficult  things  about  hatch- 
ing, and  note  that  the  first  very  noticeable  beginning 
of  the  fish  is  a  little  streak  or  string  that  lies  over 
the  outside  of  the  yolk  of  the  egg ;  for  a  fish's  egg, 

as  well  as  that  of 
a  bird,  has  a  yolk. 
The  fish  begins  in 
the  white  of  the 
egg  (so  called  in 
birds),  but  it  finds 
most  of  its  food  in 
the  yolk. 

About  the  sev- 
enth day — varying 
with  the  kind  of 
fish  and  the  amount 
of  heat — the  heart  and  the  blood-vessels  show  as  little 
red  threads  that  run  here  and  there,  and  these  begin 
to  beat  as  the  blood  is  sent  around  to  build  up  the 
body.  A  little  later  other  internal  parts  begin  to 
show. 

The  pectoral  fins  develop  very  early — doubtless 
because  of  their  importance  in  balancing  the  little 
creature — and  are  very  large  for  so  small  a  fish.  The 
eye  at  this  time  is  simply  enormous  in  proportion  to 
the  size  of  the  body. 

In  about  twelve  days  the  baby  fish  breaks  through 
the  tough  covering  of  skin  or  membrane  which  sur- 
rounds the  egg,  and  goes  swimming  about  with  the 


FIG.  65.—  1.  Fish  eggs.     2.  Young  fish. 


YOLK  AS  NURSING  BOTTLE. 

round  yolk  still  hanging  to  its  stomach.  It  is  liter- 
ally its  bread  basket  (or  nursing  bottle  placed  a  little 
low  down),  and  from  this  its  nourishment  is  drawn 
until  it  is  able  to  catch  food  for  itself.  Usually  this 
yolk  remains  for  a  period  of  seven  to  ten  days,  when 
it  is  gradually  absorbed  into  the  body,  and  the  fish 
grows  rapidly  by  food  digested  in  its  stomach. 

Previous  to  this  there  was  little  need  for  the 
young  fish  to  breathe  because  the  egg  furnished  air 
as  well  as  food;  but  now  gills  begin  to  develop  or 
form,  and  by  the  time  the  lunch  provided  by  the  egg 
is  gone  the  little  swimmer  is  getting  its  breath  in  the 
usual  way.  In  a  few  fishes  these  gills,  as  noted,  are 
at  first  tufts  on  the  outside,  but  they  are  afterward 
taken  into  the  gill-cavities.  Sometimes  these  external 
gills  show  while  the  fish  is  still  in  the  egg,  but  are  of 
the  usual  sort  after  hatching. 

This  same  practice  of  being  fed  by  the  yolk  for  a 
while  after  being  hatched  is  seen  in  such  birds  as  run 
from  the  nest  as  soon  as  hatched — little  chickens,  for 
instance ;  and  this  is  also  the  case  with  some  other 
creatures :  but  in  all  these  cases  the  yolk  is  drawn 
into  the  body  before  hatching. 


TALK  XVIII. 

Where  a  fish  wears  its  bones  and  how  it  moves  them,  and  how  it 
may  not  be  so  brainy  now  as  it  once  was  ;  or  bones,  muscles, 
nerves,  and  brain. 

BACKBONE. 

AFTER  a  series  of  talks  about  the  more  interesting 
subjects  of  homes,  food,  spawning,  hatching,  growth, 
etc.,  the  author  turns  reluctantly  to  talk  of  a  fish's 
bones,  muscles,  and  nerves,  or  the  system  of  locomo- 
tion. The  discussion  of  some  of  these  topics  is  neces- 
sary to  our  best  understanding  of  other  things  that 
go  before  and  follow  this  talk. 

When  speaking  of  scales  and  skin,  it  was  said  that 
before  the  fish-forms  existed  Nature  built  outside 
skeletons  exclusively.  As  Professor  Riley  once  said, 
to  use  the  phrase  of  a  great  wit,  some  of  them,  as 
crawfish,  lobsters,  insects,  etc.,  literally  "  sat  in  their 
bones  "  instead  of  their  flesh.  They  wear  their  bones 
outside. 

But  when  the  fish-forms  began  to  hint  of  their 
coming,  it  was  done  by  means  of  a  membranous, 
jellylike  or  gristly  string  which  was  found  inside  the 
flesh,  just  above  the  body  cavity.  In  a  few  creatures 
below  the  fishes  there  are  found  bits  of  it,  but  such 
do  not  run  the  full  length  of  the  body — only  half 
way,  perhaps  ;  still,  they  were  the  beginning  of  that 
192 


ORIGIN  OF  BACKBONE.  193 

effective  weapon  for  the  conquest  of  the  dry  land 
which  is  known  as  the  backbone. 

The  scientists  call  this  original  string  the  noto- 
chord. 

Around  this,  at  first  apparently  to  protect  it,  there 
began  to  be  formed  other  gristly  parts,  short  and 
broken,  which  afterward  became  bony  and  jointed,  as 
we  see  in  the  more  perfect  backbones  of  the  fishes  of 
the  present  day. 

Even  in  the  lancelet  the  original  chord  itself  was 
broken  up  into  a  series  of  joints,  which  appeared  as 
thin  disks  (as  coins)  placed  face  to  face  inside  of  a 
continuous,  long,  round  sac  that  just  covered  them 
neatly,  like  a  long,  slim  purse. 

For  a  long  time  in  the  fishes  this  chord  remained, 
wrapped  only  in  a  loose  covering  of  membrane  and 
in  surrounding  gristly  pieces,  the  chord  itself  being 
the  string  on  which  these  pieces  were  strung.  It 
yet  remains  so  in  the  lungfishes,  the  sturgeons,  and 
many  others.  But  at  last,  in  the  higher  bony  fishes, 
these  gristly  parts  became  so  important  that  they 
closed  in  on  the  chord,  and  this  latter  has  thus  entirely 
disappeared  or  been  replaced  by  bone,  except  when 
the  fish  is  very  young.  In  one  kind  of  fish  (the  spook- 
fish,  see  Fig.  99,  page  249)  a  complete  series  of  sepa- 
rate rings  remains  formed  around  the  chord,  much  as 
a  series  of  small  silk  spools  might  be  strung  on  a 
string.  In  the  sharks  these  rings  have  closed  in  more 
and  more  till  they  have  become  solid — at  least  solid 
gristle,  and  the  original  chord  is  cut  up  into  small 
bits,  lying  between  these  bony  rings. 


194  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

We  must  not  get  this  chord  confused  with  the 
spinal  marrow,  which  is  really  a  part  of  the  brain. 
This  latter,  a  great  nerve-chord,  is  older  than  the  noto- 
ckordj  and  lay  separate  above  it  for  a  long  time  ;  but 
when  the  hard,  gristly  parts  and  bones  began  to  form 
in  this  region,  they  made  a  separate  groove  in  them- 
selves at  first  for  this  nerve-chord  to  lie  in.  After- 
ward this  groove  closed  together  on  its  top  side,  and 
we  have  that  tube  in  which  we  find  the  marrow  now. 

So,  likewise,  we  might  as  well  say  here,  there 
were  grooves  (and  later  in  some  places  tubes  or  round 
holes)  below  the  notochord  where  certain  blood-ves- 
sels were  carried. 

The  author  has  dwelt  on  this  subject  that  you 
might  have  here  a  little  glimpse  of  the  probable 
origin  of  the  backbone,  because  it  is  in  the  fishes 
proper  that  this  first  shows.  We  should  be  interested 
in  an  implement  so  great  in  animal  progress  and  in 
the  conquest  of  the  world.  There  would  probably 
never  have  been  any  skull,  and  therefore  no  brains, 
as  we  have  them  now,  had  the  backbone  never  been 
started  on  its  way  by  the  very  low  fishes. 

Of  course,  it  is  possible  that  great  speed,  intelli- 
gence, emotions,  and  affections  may  be  developed 
without  a  spinal  column,  as  they  are  to  a  large  extent 
in  some  insects.  If  the  other  worlds,  as  the  planet 
Mars,  be  inhabited,  its  most  intelligent  and  spiritual 
creature  may  be  an  insect  or  some  form  of  animal 
entirely  unknown  to  and  unimagined  by  us ;  but  on 
earth,  civilization  is  what  it  is  to-day  because  this 
same  spinal  column  has  been  the  means  (the  only 


ORIGIN  OF  SKULL.  195 

possible  means)  of  man's  walking  erect.  There  seems 
to  be  a  special  fitness  in  man  having  his  hands  free 
and  his  head  the  highest  part  of  him,  pointing  away 
from  the  slime  of  his  origin  to  something  higher  yet ; 
and,  in  fact,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive  a  form 
and  arrangement  of  parts  better  fitted  for  the  use  of 
an  intelligent  soul  than  that  of  man,  who,  Scripture 
tells  us,  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 

SKULL. 

The  origin  of  the  skull  or  brain  case  is  not  a  topic 
simple  enough  for  us  to  talk  about,  even  if  anything 
definite  could  be  said.  For  a  great  while  students  have 
wrangled  much  over  it.  It  quite  likely  grew  out  of 
that  simple  tendency  which  Nature  shows  in  provid- 
ing the  groove  and  tube  on  the  backbone  to  put  the 
spinal  marrow  in ;  but  whether  the  skull  is  an  ex- 
.panded  joint  of  this  backbone  or  a  separate  box  grown 
to  it,  is  not  a  settled  question.  There  are  some  inter- 
esting things  which  point  both  ways,  but  they  are  too 
technical  for  us.  We  may  note,  however,  that  the 
outside  bones  of  the  head  in  the  fishes  are  numerous 
and  seem  now  to  be  skin-bones,  so  called — that  is, 
they  have  grown  directly  out  of  the  skin  instead  of 
passing  through  the  gristly  state,  or  being  first  con- 
nected with  some  other  bone.  (See  Fig.  51,  page  116.) 

The  lancelet,  we  noted,  had  no  head,  and  the  lam- 
prey-forms have  only  a  sort  of  skinny  capsule  for  a 
skull,  apparently  stuck  on  to  its  notochord.  We 
have  seen  enough  to  know  that  Nature  can  easily 
develop  bones  suddenly  wherever  they  are  needed, 


196  THE  STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

and  grow  two  or  more  together  at  times.  Here  she 
has  done  this,  extending  the  skin  bones  down  to  the 
gristle  bones  of  the  head  when  she  chooses. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  add  that  while  in  man  and 
all  other  mammals  the  lower  jaw  joins  the  skull  di- 
rectly, and  in  lower  creatures  still  there  is  a  single  bone 
between  the  jaw  and  head,  there  is  in  the  fishes  here 
a  series  of  these  bones  ;  and  their  peculiar  arrange- 
ment differs  in  the  shark-forms  and  the  bony  fishes, 
whereby  the  groups  may  be  generally  distinguished. 

Bones  which  in  man  (and  the  mammals)  are  found 
inside  of  the  ear  only,  are  found  outside  here  in  the 
fishes,  and  are  used  simply  to  swing  the  jawbone  to 
the  head. 


To  return  to  the  spinal  column.  The  breaking 
up  of  the  chord  into  joints  (vertebrae)  seems  to  have 
been  a  matter  which  Nature  indulged  in  at  her  con- 
venience, or  rather  at  that  of  the  creature.  Some 
fishes  have  many  more  joints  in  the  backbone  than 
others,  and  the  families  are  thus  distinguished  from 
each  other.  The  snakes  are  usually  lengthened  out 
by  giving  them  a  lot  of  extra  pieces  in  the  backbone. 

When  Nature  desires  to  make  anything  very 
yielding  (flexible),  and  at  the  same  time  stiff  and 
supporting,  it  is  broken  up  into  bits  well  fitted  to- 
gether, as  we  saw  in  the  fin-  rays  of  the  lower  fishes. 

In  some  cases,  as  in  the  backbones  of  the  birds 
especially,  certain  parts  are  stiffened  by  having  sev- 
eral joints  of  the  backbone  grow  together  ;  but  this  is 
not  the  case  in  the  fishes.  Indeed,  in  the  higher  ani- 


SPINES  OF   BACKBONE.  197 

mals  a  great  many  bones  are  now  grown  together 
which  were  once  separate,  but  in  the  fishes  these 
fused  bones  are  still  free,  for  it  was  in  or  near  the 
fishes  that  so  many  bones  first  began  to  exist.  This 
makes  the  study  of  the  bones  of  fishes  of  great 
interest. 

But  we  are  not  going  very  far  into  the  subject, 
for  it  is  a  study  by  itself. 

SKELETON. 

It  may  be  well  to  say  that  much  may  be  known 
about  a  fish  from  a  glance  at  a  single  joint  of  its  back- 
bone. In  the  lower  fishes  the  whole  skeleton  is  mostly 
gristly,  but  in  some  of  these  and  all  the  higher  fishes 
it  is  bony,  as  we  find  it  in  the  perch,  mackerel,  smelt, 
trout,  etc.  A  singular  thing  is  the  number  of  spines 
that  may  project  from  the  spinal  column,  as  may  be 
seen  by  the  picture.  (See  Fig.  51,  page  116.) 

In  each  joint  a  spine  may  project  on  each  side, 
as  do  the  teeth  of  a  double  comb.  To  some  extent 
spines  project  from  all  four  of  the  sides. 

It  will  be  noticed  in  the  cut  (see  Skeleton,  Fig. 
51,  page  116)  that  at  the  points  where  the  fin  rays 
come  in  there  is  a  series  of  short,  thick  spines  that 
run  inward  from  the  base  of  the  ray  or  fin  spine  till 
they  point  between  the  spines  which  are  on  the  back- 
bone. These  floating  spines  help  to  form  a  sort  of 
connection  between  the  fins  and  the  spinal  column. 
In  the  fishes  there  are  many  connections  thus  at- 
tempted which  are  not  complete — not  nearly  so  com- 
plete as  they  are  in  the  higher  animals. 


198  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

These  projections  from  the  backbone  are  used  also 
for  the  immediate  attachment  of  muscles  and  ribs. 
The  backbone  is  called  spinal  column,  because  it  has 
spines  upon  it. 

Ribs  did  not  seem  to  be  needed  at  first  in  the  lowest 
fishes,  though  there  were  gristly  hints  here  and  there 
of  their  coming,  even  in  the  lamprey -forms.  In  the 
sharks  and  sturgeons  they  are  only  yet  mere  begin- 
nings, or  short  stumps  of  cartilage  (gristle) — at  least 
not  so  long  as  in  the  higher  forms.  But  while  ribs 
are  of  no  use  to  a  fish  in  breathing,  they  seemed  to  be 
of  great  use  in  some  other  respects,  especially  in 
building  the  body  better  for  more  rapid  motion.  We 
find  them  (in  our  throats  sometimes)  of  great  number 
and  many  shapes.  Some  of  them  are  forked  where 
they  join  the  backbone ;  many  are  forked  at  the 
other  end,  and  a  few  are  forked  at  both  ends.  Some 
are  fairly  splintered  at  the  outer  end;  and  in  two 
cases — that  of  that  large  cousin  of  the  mackerels 
called  the  tunny,  and  in  that  queer  beginning  of 
the  bony  fishes  called  the  McMr — there  are  two  sets 
of  ribs,  one  above  the  other.  These  fishes  are  not 
nearly  akin,  one  being  much  higher  than  the  other. 

The  ribs  in  fishes  may  reach  the  breastbone,  as 
some  of  them  do  in  the  higher  animals.  This  bone 
is  small  and  unimportant  here,  however ;  sometimes 
it  is  wanting. 

Before  leaving  the  backbone,  it  is  interesting  to 
glance  at  the  manner  in  which  it  terminates  or  runs 
out  into  a  tail  in  different  kinds  of  fishes.  In  all 
the  low  fishes,  as  sharks  and  sturgeons,  the  tip  of  the 


ORIGINAL  TAILS.  199 

spinal  column  turns  up  as  the  runner  of  a  sleigh ; 
and  usually,  instead  of  having  the  fin  around  it,  the 
rays  stick  out  from  each  edge.  They  are  nearly  al- 
ways the  longer  below.  The  tail  in  this  case  runs 
entirely  through  the  tail-fin. 

There  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  first  true 
fishes  had  a  straight  "  tail-bone,"  but  this  also  ran 
entirely  through  the  fin,  with  the  rays  of  about  equal 
length  on  each  side. 


FIG.   66. — Structure  of  heterocercal  or  vertebrated  tail-fin. 

The  bent-up  tail-bones,  as  noted,  are  quite  likely 
associated  with  early  ground-feeding  or  low-swim- 
ming habits,  when  the  stroke  was  more  effective  in 
paddling  if  the  tail  did  not  sweep  the  mud.  This 
form  is  seen  yet  in  the  skeletons  of  sharks,  and  makes 
their  tail-lobes  all  appear  unequal,  as  we  have  noted 
in  the  thresher.  (See  Figs.  48  and  66.) 

While,  at  first  sight,  this  method  of  ending  the 
tail -fin  does  not  show  in  the  bony  fishes,  there  are 
yet  traces  of  the  notochord  being  bent  up  at  the 
tip,  even  in  those  which  are  fully  grown;  and  in 
the  young  and  hatching  ones  the  bend  is  very  ap- 
parent (see  Fig.  65,  page  190),  hinting  that  nearly 
all  our  modern  fishes  ascended  from  this  style  of 
forefather.  Such  is  the  tail  of  the  bowfin,  a  fish 


200  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

between    the    sturgeon-forms   and   the   bony   fishes. 
(See  Fig.  81). 

But  in  these  bony  fishes,  however,  the  tail  can  not 
be  said  to  pass  through  the  tail-fin,  but  appears  to 
have  been  much  shortened. 

LIMBS. 

We  have  been  talking  now  about  the  central 
skeleton  of  a  fish,  but  the  limbs  remain  yet  as  the 
most  interesting  parts.  We  have  seen  much  of  them 
as  we  have  come  along ;  for  we  have  already  learned 
that  the  limbs  of  a  fish  are  its  paired  fins. 

In  man  and  the  higher  creatures  the  limbs  proper 
consist  of  three  parts :  a  long  bone  next  the  body, 
two  others  in  the  middle,  and  the  hand  or  foot,  as 
the  case  may  be,  at  the  end.  But  in  the  fishes  there 
is  no  trace  of  this  first  long  bone,  and  often  the 
others  are  very  hard  to  recognize.  As  noted,  the 
rays  of  the  fins  are  in  no  sense  fingers. 

The  manner  of  attaching  the  limbs  to  the  body  is 
also  peculiar  in  the  fishes.  In  man,  and  the  mammals 
generally,  the  arms  are  rooted  in  the  flesh,  outside  of 
the  box  of  ribs,  by  means  of  three  great  bones  which 
meet,  and  form  the  shoulder  joint  (or  arch  rather). 
In  the  lower  fishes  there  is  a  similar  arrangement, 
but  in  many  of  the  higher  ones  the  arms  or  pectoral 
fins  are  hinged  to  the  head,  the  collar  bone  only 
being  a  part  of  the  support. 

The  hind  limbs  of  the  mammals  (and  birds)  are 
connected  to  bones  that  are  now  permanently  fas- 
tened to  the  spinal  column ;  but  in  the  lower  fishes 


ORIGIN  OF  LEGS.  201 

this  joint  also  is  simply  rooted  in  the  flesh,  and  lacks 
many  of  the  parts  found  in  the  higher  creatures. 

We  have  noticed  how  these  rear  fins  have  trav- 
eled forward  in  many  fishes,  especially  the  higher. 
So,  of  course,  their  roots  are  farther  forward,  and  in 
some  cases  they  also  are  actually  hinged  to  the  head 
and  to  the  same  bones  to  which  the  fore-limbs  hang 
—that  is,  the  collar  bone — as  may  be  seen  in  the  cut 
of  the  skeleton.  (See  Fig.  51,  page  116.) 

In  a  few  cases  the  shoulder  bones  of  the  front 
fin  run  over  to  the  top  and  join  the  top  spines  of 
the  backbone.  In  no  shark-form  are  the  rear  fins 
connected,  with  the  head.  In  all  low  fishes  these  fins 
remain  well  toward  the  rear,  sending  in  bones  or 
gristles  that  seem  to  reach  for  the  backbone,  but 
scarcely  touch  it,  as  the  limbs  of  the  higher  crea- 
tures do. 

This  was  doubtless  the  manner  in  which  the  limbs 
of  all  backboned  creatures  began — that  is,  first  upon 
the  surface.  But  there  are  a  few  things  that  tend  to 
make  us  feel  that  all  of  our  modern  and  many  of 
our  fossil  fishes  came  from  forefathers  which  had  more 
leglike  limbs  than  those  we  now  find  on  the  most  of 
them.  These  modern  limbs  show  signs  of  having 
lost  some  parts  which  may  once  have  been  used  in 
walking  or  crawling  "  on  all  fours." 

In  the  lungfishes  we  find  what  has  been  called 
by  students  the  earliest  form  of  fin,  after  the  skin 
folds  had  been  broken  up  into  four  parts.  See 
Figs.  67  and  68,  showing  limbs  of  Australian  lung- 
fish. 


202  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

It  has  the  fins  far  apart,  and  running  lengthwise 
through  each  is  a  bone — jointed  as  the  backbone  is 


FIG.  67. — Head  and  fore  limb  FIG.  68. — Hind  limb  of  same, 

of  a  Ceratodus.  (After  Gunther.) 

—but  appearing  decidedly  more  leglike  than  the 
usual  fan-shaped  fin.  In  this  fish  also  the  shoulder 
joint  is  more  perfect  than  is  usual.  Much  farther 
up  in  the  fishes — in  those  having  a  true  bony  skele- 
ton and  no  lungs  but  gills — there  is  the  bichir,  which 
also  has  a  fin  built  on  a  similar  plan.  It  seems 
strongly  hinted  that  the  early  fishes  may  have  wan- 
dered landward  a  little  and  come  back  to  the  water 
later,  just  as  we  are  sure  that  whales,  seals,  and  such 
animals  were  once  land-walkers,  but  in  the  long  ago 
they  took  again  to  swimming  almost  exclusively,  and 
thus  changed  their  shape  to  that  which  we  now  see. 

You  recall  that  the  air-bladder,  the  circulation, 
the  degenerate  heart  of  the  high  fishes,  and  the  for- 
ward movement  .of  the  rear  limbs  indicate  that  fishes 
once  knew  a  better  estate,  from  which  they  have  fallen. 

At  this  turning  point  it  is  possible  that  fishes 
went  backward,  and  the  amphibians  went  onward. 
But  while  some  fishes  may  be  degenerate  (degraded) 
amphibians,  they  have  gone  on  up  again  in  their  own 
way,  till  no  creature  is  better  adapted  to  its  place  in 
Nature  than  the  highest  kind  of  fish. 


MUSCLES  AND  NERVES.  203 


MUSCLES. 

A  few  words  about  how  bones  are  moved,  and 
we  are  through  this  tedious  talk. 

The  muscles  are  the  great  movers.  In  the  low 
creatures  they  form  all  the  body — even  in  those  which 
can  move  readily,  as  the  worms.  But  speed  and 
great  strength  usually  mean  a  skeleton  of  some 
sort ;  and  in  the  backboned  creatures  most  muscles 
are  made  fast  at  each  end,  to  bones,  or  to  other 
muscles  which  are  so  fastened. 

In  the  lancelet  the  muscles  are  only  two  great 
strips,  which  are  attached  to  each  other  at  the  ends. 
It  is  readily  seen  that  by  shortening  one  and  not  the 
other  a  wriggling  motion  is  obtained. 

In  the  lamprey-forms,  the  muscles  anchor  to  the 
head ;  and  as  we  come  up  the  scale  these  muscles 
split  up  and  send  off  parts  to  every  bone  that  needs 
to  be  moved,  and  anchor  themselves  at  nearly  every 
steady  place  to  be  found. 

Fishes  have  few  cross  muscles,  however.  The 
old  tendency  to  lie  in  strips  may  be  easily  noticed. 
Of  course,  they  have  special  muscles  to  move  the 
fins,  jaws,  etc.,  but  the  greatest  of  all  are  those  which 
move  the  tail  and  the  entire  backbone — the  most 
important  muscles  in  the  vertebrates — the  same  by 
which  man  is  able  to  stand  erect. 

NERVES. 

Muscles   are  caused    to    move  or  contract  (they 
never  really  push)  by  means  of  nerves.     Just  how 
JO 


204  TRE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

this  is  done  we  do  not  know.  It  is  one  of  those 
great  mysteries  of  life,  at  the  vestibules  of  which  we 
bow  and  take  off  our  hats  and  sandals  in  our  igno- 
rance and  meekness.  If  the  nerves  are  cut,  the  mus- 
cles are  useless. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  great  nerves  are 
cared  for  in  the  skull  and  backbone.  The  lower 
creatures  had  no  such  place  for  theirs ;  and  some  of 
them  have  no  nerves  at  all  that  we  can  find  yet. 

The  first  of  the  vertebrates  did  not  wear  their 
spinal  marrow  inside  their  spines.  When  they  got  a 
good  skull,  much  of  their  nervous  matter  went  inside 
of  it,  bunched  itself  into  a  brain,  and  then  that 
began  to  direct  the  rest  of  the  body.  Previous  to 
this  the  fish's  brains  were  just  scattered  around  loose, 
almost  anywhere  about  the  body.  This  is  another 
thing  for  which  we  should  thank  the  fishes.  They 
do  not  seem  to  have  put  so  much  of  their  spinal 
column  into  their  skulls  as  they  might,  for  the  latter 
is  not  entirely  filled  with  the  brain,  but  has  space  to 
spare,  which  is  occupied  by  a  fatty  sort  of  cushion- 
ing. It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  fishes  may 
have  been  even  more  brainy  once  than  now — that 
they  have  gone  down  hill  in  this  respect  also. 

The  so-called  "head-fishes,"  in  losing  a  part  of 
their  tails,  lost  the  rear  part  of  their  nervous  systems 
or  spinal  marrow  also. 


TALK   XIX. 

How  a  fish  may  show  its  raising,  and  thus  keep  a  family  record, 
along  with  that  found  in  the  rocks ;  or  vestiges,  fossils,  and 
parts  peculiar  to  the  young. 

As  noted,  we  find  little  fishes,  when  very  young, 
having  the  yolk  of  the  egg  attached  to  the  outside  of 
the  stomach.  (See  Fig.  62.)  We  go  further  back 
and  find  the  beginning  of  the  fish  to  be  a  mere  speck 
in  the  white  on  the  outside  of  this  yolk.  We  see 
that  this  yolk,  as  the  young  swims  about,  shows  as  a 
vestige  (left-over  part)  of  a  former  condition.  We 
know  that  the  fish  in  its  growth  once  had  no  shape 
except  that  of  the  egg. 

So  likewise  we  find  creatures  yet  that  are  single 
cells,  or  little  balls  of  living  matter.  Those  of  which 
we  spoke,  as  simply  flowing  around  their  food,  are 
really  such.  The  little  fishes  seem  to  have  begun  at 
the  beginning. 

Later  we  find  our  fish  a  mere  string  upon  the 
yolk,  with  no  heart  or  head  or  limbs,  yet  the  blood 
is  pulsating  in  it.  It  is  apparently  a  mere  worm. 
There  are  similar  worms  in  Nature ;  in  fact,  the 
lowest  fish-form,  the  lancelet,  is  just  about  this  sort 
of  a  creature. 

If  we  look  a  little  later,  our  fish  may  be  seen  to 
have  peculiarly  tufted  gills  on  the  outside.  These  are 

2Q5 


206  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

vet  found  in  the  free  young  of  the  lungfishes ;  and  in 
the  grown  ones  they  have  been  drawn  inside  and  re- 
main yet  as  mere  stubs.  But  above  these  are  grown- 
up fishes  that  never  have  tufted  gills.  Behold,  a  few 
days  later  our  little  fish  has  drawn  its  tufted  gills 
inside,  and  has  put  on  gills  like  those  of  the  ordi- 
nary fishes.  It  seems  to  be  tracing  here  in  its  egg 
the  various  grades  of  gills  found  outside. 

Again  we  watch  its  tail.  It  is  straight  at  first, 
as  that  of  the  lancelet ;  turned  up  later,  as  that  of 
the  low  shark-forms ;  a  little  less  so  further  on,  but 
still  it  is  long ;  then  finally  it  is  shortened  like  that  of 
the  birds,  and  is  the  same  as  that  of  all  bony  fishes, 
with  a  peculiar  spread-out  end  for  the  rays  to  grow 
around.  Is  it  not  singular  that  this  little  tail  as  it 
grows  should  thus  mimic  all  the  tails  below  it  ? 

Let  us  look  at  the  tail-fin.  In  the  little  fish  it  is 
a  simple  fold  of  skin  at  first,  running  all  around  the 
tail  above  and  below  it  and  far  forward.  It  is  not 
broken  up  yet  into  parts.  The  lowest  fish-forms 
are  that  way  yet.  After  a  while — even  after  it 
swims — this  great  fold  has  had  rays  grown  into  it, 
and  has  divided  into  the  dorsal  fin,  the  ventral  fin, 
and  left  the  tail-fin  on  a  stem,  to  itself. 

The  case  would  be  the  same  if  we  looked  at  the 
air  bladder,  the  mouth  under  the  body,  and  many 
other  things  which  we  have  not  even  mentioned  in 
this  little  book. 

Now,  since  we  find  this  youngster  telling  us  so 
much  by  its  mimicry  of  the  order  of  things  which  we 
can  see  is  the  real  order  of  arrangement  in  Nature 


LARVAL  FORMS.  207 

(such  as  the  cell,  the  worm,  the  lancelet,  the  tufted- 
gill  fish,  the  turned-up  tail  fish,  the  far-back  mouth 
fish,  and  so  on),  we  can  trust  it  a  little  bit  if  it  hints 
at  some  things  that  we  have  not  yet  found,  or  may 
never  be  able  to  find ;  for  there  are  many  lost  links 
in  Nature.  We  have  been  doing  some  of  this  sort 
of  trusting  as  we  came  along,  and  the  author  wishes 
now  that  you  may  see  the  reason  for  the  faith  that 
was  in  us. 

Sometimes  creatures  have  what  is  called  a  larval 
form,  just  as  the  caterpillar  is  a  larval  form  of  the 
moth.  More  nearly  to  our  case  is  the  tadpole  which  is 
a  larval  form  of  the  frog.  All  these  larval  forms  show 
a  state  up  through  which  the  race  quite  likely  came. 

Some  of  our  eels  have  a  larval  form.  It  some- 
times happens  in  other  creatures  that  the  growth 
ceases  in  the  larval  form,  and  they  remain  in  this 
state  and  lay  eggs  to  rear  young.  Thus  one  amphib- 
ian may  so  remain  always  young  in  form,  at  least, 
and  under  certain  conditions  breathe  by  gills ;  but 
under  other  conditions  it  may  grow  on,  lose  its  gills, 
and  breathe  by  lungs.  This  shows  how  much  a  crea- 
ture may  be  shaped  by  its  surroundings. 

Some  students  have  never  been  able  to  explain 
many  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  shark-forms ;  but  by 
supposing  that  they  are  such  (arrested  or  stopped) 
larval  forms  of  what  was  once  a  higher  fish,  their 
relations  to  the  others  seern  more  natural.  There 
are  many  hints  that  point  that  way. 

We  have  seen  that  the  flatfishes  appear  as  if  they 
once  swam  up  edgewise,  because  they  have  bodies 


208  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

shaped  slightly  like  those  of  the  sunfishes  and  perches. 
The  young  swim  so  yet,  and  the  progress  of  the 
lower  eye  over  the  head  may  be  watched,  showing 
that  this  is  a  late  development  for  a  special  use.  If 
we  had  not  seen  the  young,  we  could  not  be  so  sure 
of  this,  for  there  are  no  forms  now  between  the  flat- 
fishes and  the  usual  kind,  though  some  of  the  former 
are  flatter  than  others.  Little  sunfishes  sometimes  lie 
and  swim  on  their  sides. 

We  have  to  be  careful,  however,  about  believing 
everything  which  the  growth  of  young  things  indi- 
cates. Nature  hurries  many  processes  very  much, 
and  seems  to  get  so  anxious  about  important  things — 
as  we  noticed  in  the  eyes  and  the  pectoral  fins — that 
her  method  in  one  place  is  not  always  to  be  trusted, 
unless  she  has  hinted  strongly  at  the  same  thing  in 
another. 

We  have  seen  in  so  many  cases  where  old  things 
have  been  retained  for  new  uses,  or  have  been 
changed  into  new  tools  1 

It  may  not  always  follow,  therefore,  that  certain 
parts  found  about  a  little  fish  belonged  once  to  its 
forefathers  when  they  were  grown.  It  may  be  that 
such  as  plates,  weapons,  etc.,  are  necessary  to  protect 
the  young  in  their  defenseless  state,  and  are  lost  by 
the  old  fishes  because  they  are  not  needed.  Nature 
can  put  on  certain  things  at  certain  needed  periods, 
as  we  may  see,  when  she  gives  the  deer  horns  at  that 
time  only  when  he  has  to  fight  his  rivals,  and  takes 
them  off  quickly  later  that  he  may  better  escape  his 
foes. 


NATURE'S  RECORDS  TN  SCARS.  209 

We  have  had  much  to  say  of  the  angler;  but 
this  last  is  about  its  baby.  Here  is  a  picture  of  it. 
For  a  long  while  natural- 
ists thought  the  young 
was  another  species.  You 
recall  that  some  of  this 
family  live  in  floating  sea- 
weed, but  the  parents  of 
this  one  lie  on  the  bottom. 

•AT    j     ,1  i  j-  •  FIG.  69. — Young  of  goosefish  or 

Note  the  tentacles  or  strings  angler, 

projecting  from  this  little 

fellow,  which  show  that  now,  as  a  baby,  it  may 
hide  much  in  floating  seaweed  also.  Now,  if  there 
were  no  kinsfolk  living  in  this  way,  we  should  think 
this  merely  a  peculiar  protection  to  the  young ;  but 
since  we  find  one  of  this  group  sewing  a  nest  to  the 
side  of  seaweed,  another  with  a  fin  converted  into  a 
mouselike  foot  for  crawling  through  it,  we  feel,  there- 
fore, that  seaweed  was  once  the  home  of  the  now 
mud-loving  angler.  Perhaps  he  found  it  better  fish- 
ing farther  down,  and  lost  his  lower  streamers  because 
he  did  not  need  them  there. 

In  like  manner  the  embryos  of  the  rays  show  that 
they  once  had  the  forms  of  sharks,  before  they  took  to 
lying  flat.  Many  even  more  striking  examples  might 
be  cited.  Nature  makes  everything  as  comfortable 
as  she  can  in  its  chosen  place ;  but  she  keeps  books, 
and  is  apt  to  write  the  history  of  a  creature's 
changes  in  a  record  of  scars  and  worn-out  tatters 
which  show  somewhere  in  life  a  reminder  of  better 
or  baser  conditions  in  the  past. 


FIG.  70.— The  lines  of  descent 
in  fish.  Development  of  ga- 
noid forms. 


FOSSIL  FISHES. 


THE  EECOKD  IN  THE  EOCKS. 

Of  the  fishes,  rather  more  freely  than  of  any 
other  vertebrates,  Nature  has  kept  a  record  in  the 
rocks.  Especially  of  the  bony  fishes  is  this  an  easy 
matter,  since  their  forms  flatten  out  so  easily,  and 
become  pictures  of  their  skeletons  in  stone. 

Fishes  were  always  found  in  the  water,  and  hence 
were  likely  to  be  caught  in  the  mud  and  formed  into 
the  rocks,  when  the  earth  itself  was  in  the  gristly 
state  of  soft  clay,  before  it  was  hardened  into  the 
bones  of  rock. 

By  no  means  all  fishes,  however,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  bones  to  become  petrified  (converted  into 
stone),  but  their  scales,  teeth,  and  even  the  sharp 
toothlike  points  on  the  skin,  the  contents  of  their 
digestive  tracts,  and  other  little  things,  often  tell  what 
sort  of  creatures  died  here.  Sometimes  the  odor 
of  the  oil  left  can  be  yet  recognized.  Think  of  a  fos- 
sil odor  millions  of  years  old  coming  from  a  fossil 
grease  spot  ! 

"While  it  can  not  yet  be  definitely  shown  just 
what  was  the  earliest  form  of  fish  which  is  found  in 
the  rocks,  it  is  certain  that  fishes  near-akin  to  the 
sharks,  sturgeons,  and  lungfishes  were  among  the 
earliest,  for  they  are  all  found  away  down  low. 

By  permission  there  are  presented  here  pictures 
(from  Le  Coiite's  Geology)  of  some  very  low  kinds, 
which  show  that  fishes  were  varying  very  rapidly  in 
those  old  times,  as  if  Nature  were  searching  for  the 
form  that  should  suit  each  little  niche  of  the  world  best. 


212 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 


Now  look  at  that  of  Fig.  71.  It  is  one  of  the 
sturgeon-forms  (called  Ganoids).  It  shows  evidence 
of  being  degraded  to  a  bottom-haunter  purely ; 
for  its  eyes  are  close  together  on  top  of  the  head, 


FIG.  71. — Ganoids  (Cephalaspis  Lyelli}.     (After  Nicholson. 


and  it  is  armored  with  a  great  bony  mantle  which  has 
wings  that  run  out  and  protect  the  pectoral  fins. 
It  appears  as  if  it  were  on  runners  and  might  have 
pushed  itself  along  the  bottom  with  its  tail  elevated 
above.  The  ventral  fins  are  gone.  It  was  a  little 
fish,  and  may  have  had  these  barbed  head -plates  to 
prevent  its  being  easily  swallowed  tail  first.  The 


FIG.  72. — Pteraspis  restored  by  Powrie  and  Lankaster.     (After  Daw- 
son.) 

fish  at  Fig.  72  seems  similarly  formed,  but  appears 
as  if  it  were  shaped  to  stir  up  the  mud  at  the 
bottom. 


PLATED  FORMS. 


213 


It  was  very  fashionable  in  those  days  among  fishes 
to  wear  great  plates  for  protection.  These  sturgeon- 
forms  that  were  so  dressed  are  called  Placo-ganoids 
(plated  Ganoids).  Note  them  at  Figs.  73  and  74 


FIG.  73.— Pterychthys  restored.    (After  Traquair.) 

This  form  of  fish  did  not  seem  to  be  best  fitted  to 
last — perhaps  because  these  plates  became  too  stiff 
and  heavy  for  good  action.  They  soon  gave  way 
to  other  fishes  with  smaller  plates ;  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  these  plates  finally  give  place  to  scales.  In  Fig. 
73  there  is  a  sort  of  half-and-half  condition  indi- 
cated. Note  the  early  fiipperlike  form  of  the  pectoral 


FIG.  74. — Coccosteus  decipiens.     (After  Owen.) 

fins  here,  resembling  much  those  of  some  turtles.  It 
seems  not  unlikely  that  from  these  fishes  the  reptiles 
(turtles,  lizards,  etc.)  got  their  start.  Professor  Gill 
states  that  the  Placo-ganoids  were  the  first,  and  the 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  PISHES. 

lungfishes  were  the  next;  so  that  the  amphibians 
began  along  here  also  somewhere.  Here  is  a  very 
early  hint  of  a  sort  of  bottom-crawling  limb.  Pos- 
sibly the  lungfishes  tended  thus  strongly  to  become 


FIG.  75. — Ganoid  (Holoptychius  noliUssimus) .     (After  Nicholson.) 


four-legged  by  crawling  on  all  fours  on  the  bottom 
before  their  offspring,  the  amphibians,  walked  ashore  ; 
so  also  paddle-fins  may  have  had  their  start.  In  the 
next  three  figures  (75,  76,  and  77)  these  paddle-fins 


FIG.  76.— Ganoid  (Osteolepis) .     (After  Nicholson.) 


are  still  found,  though  these  fish  are  quite  modern 
in  appearance — having  all  the  usual  fins,  and  having 
tails  that  are  not  turned  up  at  the  end.  These  were 
doubtless  akin  to  the  lungfishes.  Fig.  78,  while  yet 
showing  a  sturgeon -form,  hints  much  of  higher  fishes, 
and  has  ordinary  fins. 


LIVING   RELATIVES. 


215 


Here   also  Professor  Le  Conte  has  pictured  the 
nearest  living  kinsfolk  of  these  old-time  fishes.     Fig. 


FIG.  77.  -Ganoid  (Glyptolemm  Kinairdii).    (After  Nicholson.) 

79  is  the  bichir,  already  noted  as  a  fish  (not  a  lung- 
fish)  which  has  paddle-fins  (sometimes  called  fringe- 


FIG.  78. — Ganoid  (Diplacanthus  gracilis).    (After  Nicholson.) 

fins) ;  Fig.  80  is  the  bony  garfish  (a  sturgeon -form), 
and  Fig.  81  is  the  mudfish  or  bowfin,  already  alluded 


FIG.  79.— Bichir  (Polypterus). 


to  as  being  on  the  line  between  sturgeon-forms  and 
bony  fishes.     The  gar  and  the  bowfin  also  have  quite 


216 


THE   STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 


lunglike  air-bladders,  you  remember,  and  do  actually 
breathe  by  them.     They  live  now. 

There  are  yet  living  some  shark-forms  that  are 
much  like  those  of    old.     All  these    just   described 


FIG.  80.— Garfish  ( Lepidoateus). 

fossils  are  called  Devonian  fishes.     The  lowest  sharks 
had  teeth  adapted  merely  for  crushing,  the  next  had 


FIG.  81. — American  bowfin  or  mudfish  (Amia). 

teeth  which  were  round  and  sharp,  for  piercing  or 
holding,  and  later,  like  many  alive  now,  there  were 


FlG.  82. — Ganoid  (Amblypterus  macropterus). 


READING  SHARKS'  TEETH. 


217 


those  which  had  teeth  that  were  flat,  and  shaped  at 
the  point  like  a  surgeon's  lance,  especially  adapted  for 


FIG.  83. — Platysonms  gibbosus,  Permian  of  Europe. 

cutting.    Thus  in  their  teeth  we  may  read  the  prog- 
ress of  the  sharks  away  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 


FIG.  84. — Teleost  (Beryx  Lewesiensis}. 

There  were  yet  in  this  and  the  next  two  geo- 
logical periods  no  bony  fishes.  Farther  upward  the 
tails  of  the  sturgeon -forms  begin  to  straighten  a  little 


218 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 


and  to  run  not  quite  so  far  into  the  tail-tin.  The 
lobes  of  the  tail-fin  also  began  to  be  more  nearly 
equal,  and  some  sharks  (Fig.  82)  and  some  sturgeons 


FIG.  85.— Teleost  (Osmeroides  Mantelli). 

(Ganoids,  Fig.  83)  began  to  show  shapes  that  fit  them 
for  muddy-water  swimming,  Not,  however,  till  we 
get  up  to  the  so-called  cretaceous  (chalky)  period, 
where  lime  and  bone  making  matter  seemed  so  abun- 


FIG.  86.— Teleost  (Rhombus  minimus),  a  flatfish  of  the  Lower  Eocene. 


dant,  do  we  find  the  bony  fishes.  "We  evidently  have 
not  yet  found  the  earliest  of  them,  for  the  lower 
forms  and  higher  forms  appear  much  at  the  same 


ENEMIES  AND  EXTINCTION.  219 

time  closely  associated.  Thus  the  soft-rayed  herrings, 
salmons,  and  pikes,  and  the  higher  spiny -rayed  perch- 
forms  (Figs.  84  and  85),  some  of  which  live  yet  to- 
day, are  found  in  the  same  rocks. 

From  this  on,  the  bony  fishes  are  more  abundant, 
and  in  the  next  age  they  have  assumed  all  the  shapes 
known  to  us  now.  Even  distinct  genera  (divisions) 
of  the  flatfishes  (Fig.  86)  can  be  recognized. 

DISEASE  AND  ENEMIES,  ETC. 

When  we  note  how  many  different  kinds  of  crea- 
tures have  been  exterminated  in  the  past,  we  won- 
der what  may  have  been  the  cause.  In  a  few  cases, 
perhaps,  great  and  sudden  changes  in  the  surface 
of  the  earth  may  have  deprived  fishes  of  water,  or 
cracks  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea  may  have  let  up 
poisonous  gases ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  many 
creatures  grew  so  much  in  certain  directions  that 
they  could  not  change  with  the  gradual  changes  of 
the  things  around  them. 

Thus  those  great  Placo-ganoids  may  have  kept 
on  getting  heavier  or  stiffer  armor,  till  they  became 
too  awkward  to  catch  active  prey. 

Again,  new  enemies  may  have  arisen  which  began 
to  prey  upon  them,  or  some  disease  may  have  set  in. 
Nature  holds  her  balance  as  much  by  death  as  by 
birth.  In  this  cut  of  a  rock  (Fig.  87)  you  may  see 
that  death  came  long  ago  to  quite  a  bunch  of  fishes 
— perhaps  from  the  drying  up  of  a  pool. 

Our  modern  fishes  die  of  diseases,  though  they 
are  usually  quite  healthy  creatures.  The  carp  is 
16 


220  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

known  to  live  two  hundred  years,  and  it  has  been 
asserted  that  there  are  some  in  Europe  that  are  even 
six  hundred  years  old.  We  can  not  enter  upon  the 
subject  of  the  diseases  of  fishes,  unless  it  be  to  add  that 
a  sort  of  mildew  or  fungus  sometimes  attacks  them, 
and,  while  yet  alive,  they  decay  away  in  spots — much 
as  a  potato  may  rot. 

Fishes  have  also  many  internal  parasites,  even  in 
the  tissues,  which  may  or  may  not  impair  their  health. 


-Teleosts  (Lebias  cephalotes),  Miocene. 

It  is  stated  that  there  is  not  a  fish  known  which  may 
not  have  parasites  in  the  digestive  tract,  and  that  on 
the  French  coast  they  all  may  have  them  in  their 
blood.  It  is  a  subject  not  very  agreeable  to  think  of, 
and  is  mentioned  only  by  the  author,  that  his  readers 
may  order  their  smelts,  properly  dressed,  unless  they 
prefer  to  get  more  than  they  call  for.  The  blood 
parasites  are  not  very  formidable. 


VARIOUS  FISHERS.  221 

Fishes  endure  wounds  which  would  tend  to  be 
more  fatal  to  higher  animals ;  and  there  is  much  that 
seems  to  mean  that  they  do  not  suffer  from  them  so 
keenly  as  we  might. 

Below  the  fishes,  many  creatures  replace  lost  parts 
readily ;  and  above  them  the  salamanders  will  grow 
a  new  tail,  or  leg  even,  if  it  be  lost ;  but  in  the  lung- 
fishes  only  among  fishes  can  the  tail  (and  not  the  legs) 
be  regrown  if  lost.  The  higher  fishes — as  well  as  the 
other  higher  animals — have  developed  so,  that  only 
the  tips  of  the  rays  and  the  films  between  them  can 
be  regrown,  just  as  we  repair  the  wear  or  loss  of  our 
nails.  This  is  another  hint  at  the  low  origin  of  the 
lungfishes  and  the  amphibians. 

While  man  by  continuous  fishing  has  almost  ex- 
terminated some  fishes,  especially  in  certain  streams 
and  coasts,  yet  he  is  by  no  means  their  worst  enemy. 
Many  birds  live  solely  on  fishes. 

We  have  noticed  how  they  feed  upon  each  other. 
Their  greatest  enemies  in  Nature  are  their  larger 
associates. 

Water  snakes  catch  fishes.  Some  sea  snakes  have 
a  poison,  which  at  once  relaxes  the  spines,  so  that 
they  lie  down,  thus  enabling  the  fish  to  be  more  easi- 
ly swallowed.  Whales,  dolphins,  and  turtles  are  fish 
foes.  The  whale  may  dash  into  schools  and  swal- 
low hundreds  at  a  gulp.  Flying  fish  often  arise  at 
the  approach  of  a  vessel  which,  it  is  supposed,  they 
mistake  for  a  whale. 

Among  the  mammals  (besides  man)  the  fish-foes 
are  the  seal  tribe,  the  otters,  the  minks,  martens, 


222  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

and  even  the  bears,  cats,  and  at  times  foxes,  as  we 
have  seen,  and  the  bear's  little  cousin,  the  coon.  But 
these  last  are  not  expert  fishers. 

Among  the  birds,  fishes  find  many  foes.  Near- 
ly all  the  water-birds  are  peculiarly  fitted  in  bill,  legs, 
and  toes  for  pursuing  or  capturing  fishes.  Loons, 
cormorants,  some  ducks,  etc.,  swim  after  them  under 
water,  using  their  wings  as  fins ;  herons,  cranes,  etc., 
stand  in  watch,  and  grasp  or  spear  them  as  they  pass ; 
gannets,  gulls,  petrels,  and  many  others,  as  the  king- 
fisher, throw  themselves  beak  foremost  on  to  them, 
when  near  the  surface,  while  the  flat-billed  ducks,  the 
sandpipers,  etc.,  feed  upon  the  eggs  on  the  bottom 
and  around  the  edges  of  streams.  The  osprey,  among 
the  birds  of  prey,  it  is  well  known,  seizes  the  fish 
with  its  claws.  Even  away  up  on  the  edge  of  the 
highest  birds,  the  water  ousels  walk  on  the  bottom, 
eating  eggs  and  seizing  the  young  occasionally. 
Man's  methods  of  taking  fish  will  form  a  talk  by 
itself. 

It  has  been  stated  that  certain  lampreys  have 
been  seen  clinging  to  shad  and  sucking  their  eggs 
directly  away  from  them  as  they  swim. 


TALK  XX. 

How  a  fish  is  brought  up  by  hand  and  helps  to  feed  the  nations  ; 
or  fish-culture  and  fisheries. 

FROM  the  earliest  times  of  which  we  know  any- 
thing some  interest  has  been  taken  in  raising  fishes 
in  a  sort  of  domestic  manner,  as  we  raise  hogs  or 
hens. 

There  were  fish-ponds  among  the  most  ancient 
Egyptians ;  and  the  Romans  developed  this  industry 
very  largely.  They  had  great  vats  at  their  homes, 
besides  large  pools  at  other  places.  They  put  up 
eels  to  fatten  them  as  we  put  up  pigs,  and  it  is  said 
that  occasionally  a  disobedient  or  disliked  slave  was 
thrown  to  them,  to  be  suddenly  nipped  to  death  by 
the  greedy  creatures. 

But  this  was  not  fish-culture  as  we  understand 
and  practice  it  now.  It  was  rather  fish-taming.  It 
is  said,  however,  that  the  Chinese  practiced  for  ages 
a  sort  of  fish -rearing  that  was  beyond  this ;  for  they 
searched  for  eggs  in  order  to  put  them  in  other 
waters  or  streams,  that  the  quantity  of  food  might 
be  nearer  and  more  plentiful.  To  make  this  easier, 
they  placed  rude  frames  in  the  water,  upon  which 
the  fishes  might  lay  their  eggs.  They  thus  built  a 
sort  of  nest  for  the  fish,  as  we  build  one  for  the  hens. 

223 


224  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

By  this  means  the  eggs  were  more  certainly  obtained 
and  more  easily  carried.  Besides  this,  they  had  many 
other  rude  implements. 

The  change  of  spawn  from  one  stream  to  another 
was  thus  kept  up  in  various  countries,  in  a  small  way, 
till  rather  modern  times ;  but,  as  a  rule,  when  a  pond 
or  stream  needed  "  stocking,"  they  caught  the  fishes 
themselves  and  put  them  in  it,  as  the  old  Romans 
used  to  do. 

Either  of  these  methods  was  tedious  on  a  large 
scale.  It  was  not  until  away  down  in  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  that  the  Germans  and  the 
French — both  about  the  same  time — learned  how  to 
take  the  eggs  directly  from  the  fish  in  the  great 
quantities  in  which  they  are  found.  They  hatched 
out  these,  and  allowed  the  parents  to  go  free  to  lay 
more  eggs  for  another  season. 

They  pressed  the  eggs  out  by  the  hand  at  the 
time  when  they  were  ready  to  issue.  In  one  case  this 
method  was  first  suggested,  it  is  said,  by  seeing  a 
salmon  rub  her  under  side  against  the  heap  of  stones 
(usually  styled  nests)  and  thus  press  the  eggs  out. 

We  have  seen  that  what  more  largely  keeps  fishes 
from  being  abundant  is  the  loss  of  the  eggs,  by  their 
being  eaten,  being  unfertilized,  and  not  being  prop- 
erly situated  for  hatching. 

In  artificial  hatching  all  the  eggs  are  secured  and 
kept  safe,  nearly  all  are  hatched,  and  the  young  are 
kept  secure  from  enemies  till  they  are  fairly  large. 

There  is  one  enemy  of  small  fishes  that  has  not 
been  mentioned.  It  has  at  times  greatly  annoyed  the 


EGG-HATCHING.  225 

fish-culturist.  It  is  that  giant  water-bug  which  we  so 
often  see  dead  or  stupid  under  the  arc  electric  lights 
in  our  streets.  It  seizes  little  fishes,  pierces  them 
with  its  long  beak,  and  sucks  the  fluids  out  of  them. 
Doubtless  it  is  rather  a  good  thing  for  the  fishes  that 
man  has  made  himself  a  better  light. 

Sometimes  the  eggs  may  be  sent  a  long  way  and 
put  directly  into  the  streams,  but  it  is  better  to  have 
them  hatched  first.  Recently,  small  fishes  are  shipped 
wherever  they  are  needed. 

Fishes'  eggs  may  be  either  a  long  time  or  a  short 
time  in  hatching,  according  to  the  temperature  of 
the  water.  They  may  be  started  in  warmish  water 
and  then  put  into  cool  water,  and  the  hatching  is  de- 
layed for  some  time  just  at  that  stage,  without  de- 
stroying the  life.  In  this  respect  fish  eggs  differ 
largely  from  bird  eggs. 

This  peculiarity  enables  them  to  be  canned,  packed 
in  a  cool  place,  and  shipped  from  our  Atlantic  coast 
to  the  Pacific,  and  the  reverse.  In  this  way  the 
shad  has  been  carried  out  West  and  dropped  into 
the  head  waters  of  the  streams.  Thence  they  begin 
to  go  downward  to  the  ocean  (tail  foremost  in  swift 
places),  and  the  next  and  following  seasons  they  come 
back  for  spawning  ;  and  they  thus  become  fixed  resi- 
dents. 

There  are,  however,  different  temperatures  of 
water  which  best  suit  the  hatching  of  different  eggs. 
We  shall  not  go  into  that,  except  to  call  attention 
again  to  the  fact  that  the  eggs  of  salmon  families  and 
some  others  require  the  water  to  be  not  only  very 


226  THE  STORY  OP  THE  FISHES. 

cool,  but  it  must  be  constantly  in  motion  and  have  a 
great  deal  of  air  in  it.  This  accounts  for  that  instinct 
(which  is  here  perhaps  an  inherited  memory)  that 
drives  the  salmon  far  up  the  elevated  streams  in 
which  they  find  such  water.  It  tells  us  again  that 
their  forefathers  were  rather  northern  fresh-water 
fishes,  as  their  cousins,  the  trouts,  are  yet. 

We  spoke  of  the  little  fish  going  down  stream  tail 
first  as  it  leaves  its  nursery.  This  position  is  neces- 
sary in  rapids,  in  order  that  the  tail  may  be  ready  to 
leap,  dodge,  guide,  etc.  Besides,  as  we  saw,  swift 
water  running  the  wrong  way  will  drown  a  fish.  In 
this  case,  however,  the  traveling  is  done  by  floating 
in  the  current,  the  tail  merely  steering.  It  could 
not  steer  much  if  it  pointed  up  stream.  The  tail  in 
this  position  could  certainly  help  the  fish  along,  how- 
ever, if  it  chose  to  go  by  it.  It  has  been  asserted  by 
a  very  high  authority  (Griinther)  that  a  fish  can  move 
backward  by  the  use  of  its  pectoral  fins  only — not 
by  its  tail.  It  may  be  that  this  is  true  if  the  fish  is 
free ;  but  every  angler  knows  how  a  hooked  fish  can 
pull  by  flipping  its  tail  when  it  has  its  head  anchored 
by  a  hook  and  line. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  whole 
swimming  system  is  much  more  effective  in  going  for- 
ward. The  author  once  hooked  a  ten-inch  trout  in 
the  dorsal  fin,  and  as  it  pulled  away  with  its  head 
down  it  felt  as  if  it  were  a  "  ten-pounder" 

Very  fortunately,  the  fishes  more  easily  raised  by 
hand  are  those  which  are  good  for  food,  and  best 
suited  to  our  inland  streams.  Such  are  the  salmons, 


VALUE  OF  FISHES. 

trouts,  pikes,  shads,  carps,  basses,  breams,  and  others 
known  as  game  fishes.  The  carp  is  easily  reared 
anywhere,  and  fattens  as  a  hog.  The  little  goldfishes 
are  carps,  originally  from  China. 

Of  course,  where  the  young  are  born  already 
hatched  it  is  impossible  to  increase  them  by  artificial 
means ;  nor  is  it  desirable,  since,  as  a  rule,  with  ex- 
ceptions, such  are  not  especially  good  for  food. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  go  into  the  description  of 
the  various  kinds  of  boxes,  troughs,  cages,  ponds,  and 
other  things  that  are  used  in  fish-culture.  They  are 
different  for  different  fishes,  and  are  being  improved 
yearly.  Fish- culture  has  grown  rapidly  since  it  began 
and  is  making  great  strides  yet. 

Perhaps  no  country  is  ahead  of  our  own  in  this. 
Not  only  is  the  General  Government  constantly  ex- 
perimenting for  the  free  use  of  the  people,  but  now 
nearly  every  State  has  its  own  hatcheries,  as  these 
places  are  called,  and  there  is  a  special  fish  commis- 
sioner, whose  business  it  is  to  send  out  little  fishes, 
so  long  as  the  supply  lasts,  to  all  who  ask  for  them. 

Unless  you  live  in  some  fishing  town  upon  the 
coast  or  near  some  large  inland  canning  factory,  you 
are  not  apt  to  have  an  idea  or  estimate  of  the  great 
value  of  fishes  as  a  food  and  a  livelihood.  Even  many 
persons  dwelling  near  our  rivers  make  their  living 
catching  fish  for  market.  Fishes  form  a  much  larger 
part  of  the  diet  of  many  folk  than  inland  persons  are 
apt  to  think.  A  walk  through  the  fish  markets  of  a 
large  city — a  walk  always  worth  taking — will  show 
us  much.  In  many  places  fishes  are  decidedly  the 


228  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

cheapest  meat  which  can  be  purchased.  In  no  other 
way  can  we  so  well  make  the  waste  of  waters  help 
to  feed  the  millions  of  people  crowded  upon  the 
points  of  dry  land  which  stick  up  here  and  there,  as 
by  learning  how  to  get  from  it  fish  and  similar  things 
for  our  tables.  Some  thinking  persons  fear  that  the 
soil  will  not  be  able  to  feed  all  the  people  after  a 
while,  and  one  of  our  hopes  lies  in  getting  more  from 
the  sea. 

FISHERIES. 

This  brings  us  to  talk  a  little  of  those  regions 
where  fishes  are  found  at  certain  seasons  in  great 
abundance — called  fisheries.  We  have  been  com- 
pelled to  refer  to  them  as  we  came  along. 

Such  places  have  been  known  in  the  Old  World 
for  ages,  and  large  catches  were  made  by  the  ancients. 
The  eel-forms,  of  which  the  Romans  were  so  fond, 
were  caught  in  the  seas  around  Sicily  and  brought  to 
Rome  by  shiploads.  Other  kinds  of  fishes,  especially 
cods  and  herrings,  became  the  source  of  great  wealth 
to  the  various  nations. 

Along  the  coasts  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  England, 
and  France  also  there  are  certain  great  fishing  places. 
The  Mediterranean  Sea  was  famous  very  early,  as 
well  as  many  inland  rivers  and  lakes — notably  the 
Sea  of  Galilee. 

But  we  have  not  space  to  attempt  to  outline  all 
the  great  fisheries  of  the  world,  or  to  give  any  figures 
representing  their  yearly  value  or  the  amount  of 
money  put  in  ships  and  machinery  for  working  them. 

Nowhere  are  there  found  such  large  fisheries  as 


FISHERIES.  229 

those  along  the  northern  Atlantic  coasts  of  our  own 
continent,  extending  from  Massachusetts  to  Labrador. 
Especially  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  are  cod- 
fishes, herrings,  and  mackerels  caught. 

Nations  have  gone  to  war  over  fisheries,  for 
they  have  been  greedy  about  them.  In  less  than 
seven  years  after  Cabot  discovered  the  North  Atlan- 
tic coast  and  reported  its  fisheries,  the  French  were 
sending  fishing  fleets  to  it,  and  the  other  nations 
soon  followed.  By  the  time  at  which  the  French 
and  Indian  war  began  there  were  as  many  as  one 
hundred  and  fifty  vessels  coming  here  yearly.  France 
paid  bounties  to  encourage  the  industry.  Now  those 
going  there  are  numbered  by  many  thousands,  and 
the  money  invested  is  counted  by  many,  many  mil- 
lions. 

Besides  the  cods,  herrings,  and  mackerels  caught 
for  food,  many  other  kinds  of  fishes  are  sought 
for  other  purposes.  Thus  the  Chinese  catch  sharks 
for  their  oil  and  their  skins.  The  French  have  their 
sardine  fisheries;  hake  and  ling  are  caught  on  the 
shores  of  Scotland,  while  sprat  and  herring  are  taken 
elsewhere  around  the  British  Isles. 

Some  fishes  are  caught  purely  for  bait  to  lure 
other  fishes,  being  put  upon  hooks  or  cut  up  into 
bits  and  spread  upon  the  water,  so  that  the  nets  may 
better  get  at  the  feeders.  Others,  as  menhaden,  are 
caught  for  fertilizers  of  old  worn-out  soils.  Their 
dried  bodies  are  ground  up  fine  and  sown  over  the 
fields.  This  is  another  method  by  which  the  ocean 
is  made  to  help  the  land  support  the  people. 


230  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

Among  our  fresh-water  fisheries  the  salmon  fish- 
eries of  Maine  and  those  of  the  great  Columbia  River 
of  the  West  are  among  the  best  known. 

In  the  West,  especially,  great  quantities  of  salmon 
are  canned  yearly  and  shipped  all  over  the  world. 

In  every  nation  wise  laws  are  enforced  to  prevent 
the  entire  destruction  of  the  fishes.  They  allow  only 
certain  seasons  in  which  to  fish,  and  only  certain  sizes 
of  fish  to  be  taken. 


TALK  XXI. 

How  a  fish  is  headed  off  at  times  and  may  be  taken  by  hook  and 
by  crook  at  others ;  or  a  few  fishing  methods. 

OUR  interviews  are  drawing  to  a  close  now.  Let 
us  talk  this  half -hour  about  the  methods  employed  to 
capture  fishes.  We  have  already  spoken  of  boats  being 
used  to  go  to  the  fishing  grounds,  or  waters  rather, 
and  of  course  to  bring  the  fish  home  in.  In  order  to 
learn  much  about  the  management  of  these  boats, 
this  writer  advises  all  his  readers  to  study  Mr.  Kip- 
ling's Captains  Courageous,  which  seems  to  have  been 
written  almost  as  a  text-book  upon  fishing  tactics  on 
Newfoundland  Banks.  The  author  had  evidently 
made  a  study  of  our  American  fishing  fleets  and  their 
methods. 

Fishes  are  taken  either  in  nets  or  upon  hooks,  even 
in  the  ocean.  But  the  scheme  is  much  larger  than  we 
inland  folk  ever  see  it  practiced  at  home. 

In  England  they  call  a  trawl  a  great  purse- 
shaped  bag  made  of  strong  netting.  Perhaps  the 
word  stocking-shaped  would  be  better,  for  with  us 
the  old-fashioned  purse  has  disappeared.  This  net, 
however,  is  larger  at  the  mouth  than  it  is  farther 
back.  It  is  supported  and  kept  open  by  means  of  a 
great  beam  projecting  from  the  ship.  The  under 

231 


232 


THE  STORY   OF  THE   FISHES. 


edge  or  lower  lip  of  the  mouth — often  from  forty  to 
eighty  feet  wide — drags  on  the  bottom  as  the  ship 
sails  or  steams  along.  This  scoops  up  the  fish  that 
are  within  its  reach;  they  rush  back  into  the  bag, 


FIG.  88.— Trawl  or  bag-net. 

where  there  are  great  side  pouches  into  which  they  go, 
in  trying  to  get  out.  Over  the  mouths  of  these  pouches 
are  valves  or  flappers  which  prevent  any  return  of  the 
captured  fish  toward  the  front  of  the  net.  The  flap- 
pers easily  rise  up  as  the  fishes  go  in,  but  lie  flat  as 
they  attempt  to  come  out.  The  principle  is  the  same 
as  that  used  in  many  rat-traps. 

When  the  tide  is  running  out,  and  the  fish  are 
going  with  it,  these  trawl-nets  are  frequently  fast- 
ened to  the  bottom  of  the  ships,  instead  of  to  a  beam, 
and  are  drawn  against  the  course  taken  by  the  fish, 
by  which  means  they  are  caught  and  secured  as  be- 
fore. When  fishes  are  thus  going  out  with  the  tide 


VARIOUS  NETS   AND  SEINES. 


233 


a  seine  is  also  used ;  but  we  speak  of  that  form  of 
net  later. 

Perhaps  the  most  effective  method  of  taking  many 
fishes  which  are  running  past  in  shoals  or  streams  is 
for  the  fishermen  to  get  ahead  of  them,  if  possible, 
and  drop,  in  the  line  of  their  travel,  long  deep  walls 
of  netting,  known  as  drift-nets.  These  are  buoyed  at 
the  surface  and  have  their  meshes  (spaces  between 
the  strings)  of  that  size  which  suits  the  kind  of  fish 
passing ;  for  this  net  takes  and  holds  its  captives  by 
allowing  them  to  thrust  their  heads,  and  perhaps  a 
little  bit  of  the  body  only,  through  the  meshes.  The 
gills  or  front  fins  then  prevent  the  fish  from  backing 
out,  and  when  the  net  is  drawn  up  the  mackerel,  her- 


I"*" — r  i^ JXJC" '. jjuLi p*g- JEj,"* 


FIG.  89.— Drift-  or  gill-net  at  surface. 

ring,  or  whatever  kind  of  fish  it  may  be,  is  sticking 
in  the  nets — often  in  great  numbers.  These  are  fre- 
quently called  gill-nets,  because  the  fish  usually  hangs 
itself  by  the  gills. 


234  THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

A  fish  may  get  terribly  tangled  in  a  string.  The 
author  had  an  experience  once  which  sounds  so  fic- 
titious and  fishy  as  to  be  out  of  place — at  least  out 
of  the  range  of  belief — anywhere  else  except  in  this 
connection  in  a  fish-book.  Wishing  a  specimen  of 
the  commom  "  mud-cat "  he  set  a  single  hook  in  a 
little  shallow  mud-bottom  pond,  where  he  knew  a 
school  of  these  fishes  lived.  Then  he  went  away  for 
a  few  hours,  and  on  his  return  homeward  drew  up 
his  line.  What  his  surprise  was  you  can  imagine 
when  there  came  out  with  it  three  fishes  and  the 
limb  of  a  tree.  One  fish  was  hooked  as  a  decent  fish 
should  be,  a  larger  one  just  above  it  had  the  line 
wrapped  twice  around  its  neck  and  drawn  tight  into 
the  gills,  while  above  this  still  a  larger  one  yet  had 
the  line  three  or  four  times  around  its  body  on  each 
side  of  the  pectoral  spines,  with  a  turn  or  two  taken 
around  one  of  the  spines  itself.  The  lower  fish  was 
dead  and  had  the  entire  contents  of  the  body  cavity 
eaten  out — perhaps  by  a  turtle  ! — the  other  two  were 
alive  but  very  stupid.  It  is  probable  that  these  fishes 
approached  the  bait  in  a  bunch ;  that  one  became 
hooked,  and  in  its  attempt  to  escape  it  wrapped  the 
line  around  its  fellows  and  the  bit  of  brush  that  lay 
near. 

It  is  the  fishes  with  sharply  shaped  heads  that  are 
apt  to  be  caught  in  gill -nets.  Such  fishes  swim  with 
greater  power  and  swiftness  than  others,  and  drive 
themselves  more  strongly  against  the  meshes  through 
which  their  pointed  heads  easily  make  their  way. 
Those  usually  taken  in  this  way  are  mackerels,  her- 


FIG.  90.— European  bream  (upper  figure).    Pilchard  (lower  figure) 

IT 


236 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 


rings,  and  pilchards.  These  latter  are  very  common 
on  the  coasts  of  England  (see  Fig.  90).  It  is  stated 
that  by  means  of  drift-nets  "  ten  thousand  hogsheads, 
containing  twenty -five  millions  of  pilchards,  have  been 
landed  at  one  port  in  a  single  day." 

In  cod -fishing,  the  gill-net  is  used  on  the  bottom 
as  well  as  on  the  surface.  You  recall  that  the  little 
barbel  on  the  cod's  lower  jaw  tells  that  it  is  a  bottom 
feeder,  and  the  flatfishes  themselves  were  quite  likely 


FIG.   91. — Drift-  or  gill-net  at  sea  bottom. 

made  out  of  cod-forms,  since  their  kinship  now  is  so 
close  to  them. 

As  hinted,  marine  fishes  are  caught  with  seines 
also.  These  are  somewhat  like  drift-nets  or  great 
curtains  of  twine  netting.  They  are  of  various 
depths,  according  to  the  water,  and  of  lengths  that 
suit  the  size  of  the  inlet  or  landing  place  where  they 
are  used.  Some  are  two  hundred  feet  deep  and  more 


238 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 


than  two  miles  long.  They  often  have  floats  made  of 
glass  bulbs.  They  are  very  expensive  when  so  large. 
They  are  set  and  handled  by  means  of  boats,  and 
sometimes  special  machinery  is  set  on  shore  to  pull 
them  in.  They  require  very  favorable  shores  to 
make  them  of  special  use. 

There  are  also  some  so-called  pursed  seines,  in 
which  the  fishes  are  secured  in  pockets  that  lie  be- 
hind the  wall  of  netting.  These  do  not  require 
such  great  care  in  landing,  but  may  not,  in  other  re- 
spects be  as  effective  as  the  plain  seine. 

Drag-nets  are  great  bags  which  are  drawn  between 
two  boats,  usually  in  shallow  water.  Some  seines  are 


FIG.  93.— Pulling  in  purged  seine,  one  end  of  which  is  fastened  to 

rock. 

made  fast  to  the  shore  at  one  end,  while  the  other 
is  swung  around  out  into  the  water,  and  then  drawn 
in,  often  by  horse  or  steam  power. 

There  is  another  style  of  fishing  in  which  the  net- 


FISH  TRAPS. 


239 


ting  is  not  moved  but  set.     It  is  usually  called  trap- 
ping. 

Pound-nets  consist  of  a  single  wing  or  curtain  of 
netting  of  the  same  depth  as  the  water,  set  on  the 


FIG.  94. — Pulling  in  gill-net  that  is  fast  at  one  end. 

bottom  with  one  end  at  the  shore  and  the  other  ex- 
tending, at  an  angle  with  the  bank,  far  out  into  the 
water.  At  this  farther  end  is  such  a  pocket  as  has 
been  already  described. 

As  the  fishes  swim  along  near  shore  they  are  led 
off  around  the  wing  till  they  come  to  the  pocket, 
which  they  enter,  hoping  that  they  have  at  last  got 
around  the  obstruction. 

Sometimes  these  obstructing  wings  are  made  per- 
manent by  being  built  of  stakes,  planks,  or  brush. 
In  this  case  the  wing  is  called  a  weir.  Weirs  are 
made  usually  where  there  is  much  difference  in  the 
level  of  the  water  at  high  and  low  tide,  because 
when  the  tide  is  out  they  can  be  easily  built. 

The  fyke-net  consists  of  a  great  funnel-shaped 
tube  or  tapering  sack,  kept  open  by  means  of  hoops. 
It  also  has  pockets  at  the  rear  end.  From  it  on  each 


TRAWL  LINES. 

side  extend  great  wings  of  netting,  very  much  as  in  a 
quail  net.  These  wings  lead  such  fishes  as  happen  to 
swim  in  between  them  into  the  pocket.  The  pound- 
net  is  set  on  the  bottom.  Besides  being  used  on  the 
coasts,  it  is,  in  our  inland  lakes  and  rivers,  largely  the 
means  of  supplying  the  market  with  fish. 

In  taking  the  traveling  fishes  as  they  run  up  and 
down  the  streams  at  the  spawning  season,  nothing  is 
more  effective  than  the  fishing  wheel.  It  is  a  large 
wide  wheel,  sunk  a  little  way  into  the  water  at  certain 
narrow  places.  It  has  paddles  on  it,  which  cause  it  to 
turn  slowly  .with  the  current.  On  its  rim  there  are 
set  dip-mouthed  baskets  made  of  strong  wire  netting, 
which  meet  the  fish  as  it  swims  up  stream,  lift  it  up, 
and  dump  it,  on  the  other  side,  into  a  chute  which 
leads  to  the  shore. 

Of  course,  if  this  be  set  at  a  point  where  all  the 
fishes  pass,  as  they  may  be  made  to  do  by  weirs,  it  will 
catch  them  all.  It  is  so  deadly  that  certain  limits  to 
its  use  have  been  set  by  law. 

We  shall  now  glance  at  the  methods  of  catching 
fish  with  hooks,  as  it  is  practiced  on  a  large  scale  by 
those  who  fish  to  live. 

In  America  when  we  say  trawls  (or  trolls)  we  mean 
trawl  lines  and  not  trawl  nets.  These  lines  are  set  in 
the  ocean,  at  a  length  often  of  three  or  four  thousand 
feet,  and  they  carry  hundreds  of  other  very  short  lines, 
upon  the  end  of  each  of  which  there  is  a  baited  hook. 
Trawls  may  be  thrown  out  either  from  shore  or  ship. 

Sometimes  they  have  buoys  at  certain  points  and 
weights  at  others— first  one  and  then  the  other  at 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 

regular  intervals.  When  cast  out,  the  weights  sink, 
the  buoys  float,  and  the  line  takes  a  zigzag  shape,  like 
this,  having  the  hooks  thus  set  at  various  depths. 


FLOAT  FLOAT  FLOAT  FLOAT  FLOAT 


WEIGHT  WEIGHT  WEIGHT  WEIGHT 

FIG.  96.— Trawl. 

Much  fishing  with  hooks  is  done  over  the  side  of 
small  craft  with  lines  handled  directly  by  the  men  in 
the  boats. 

It  is  said  that  the  Chinese  set  barbless,  unbaited 
hooks  in  the  runways  of  the  sturgeon,  and  that  many 
of  the  fish  catch  themselves  on  these  in  passing. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  the  development 
of  the  fishhook,  from  a  piece  of  stone  tied  at  the 
middle  to  the  piece  of  curved  shell,  and  on  to  the  ter- 
rible barb  of  steel  which  we  know  so  well  now.  But 
we  shall  simply  ask  the  artist  to  draw  for  us  here  a 
series  of  these  crude  forms  (see  next  page). 

Fishes  are  often  speared  as  they  pass  the  shallow 
places  in  their  "  runs."  A  special  implement  having 
three  sharp  barbed  prongs  is  used.  It  is  called  a  gig. 
It  is  a  very  old  means  of  getting  a  fish.  The  ancients 
represented  Neptune — their  god  of  the  sea — as  al- 
ways bearing  about  one  of  these  three-tined  spears 
with  him  as  a  sign  of  his  power  over  all  the  swim- 
ming things.  It  is  in  this  connection  called  a  "  tri- 
dent," which  means  a  thing  having  three  teeth. 

One  learns  to  throw  these  gigs  with  great  accu- 


VARIOUS  HOOKS. 


243 


racy.  Occasionally  they  may  be  shot  from  a  gun,  but 
the  charge  of  powder  should  be  very  small,  not  more 
than  one  fourth  the  usual  load.  Herrings,  shads,  buf- 
faloes, suckers,  salmons,  and  pickerels  are  the  more 


FIG.  97. — 1,  2,  bone  gorges  from  Swiss  lakes  (lacustrine) ;  3,  stone 
gorge  from  valley  of  the  Sonime  ;  ^,  fishhook  of  boar's  tusk  from 
Swiss  lakes ;  5,  6,  shell  hooks  from  Santa  Barbara,  Cal.  ;  7,  8, 
bronze  wire  gorges  from  Swiss  lakes  ;  9.  double  barbed  bronze 
hook  (lacustrine);  10,  bronze  hook. 

usual  kinds  so  taken.  Occasionally  fishes  are  shot 
as  they  float,  but  this  is  not  a  very  satisfactory 
method. 


244  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

Single  spears  are  used  also  in  taking  the  bottom 

O  L  O 

fishes,  such  as  flounders,  soles,  turbots,  etc. 

Of  course,  other  crude  ways  suggest  themselves, 
and  have  been  practiced  for  ages. 

The  author  recalls  a  pressing  invitation  from  a 
South  Dakota  farmer  :  "  Come  up  in  the  spring,"  said 
he,  "and  we'll  fish  for  pickerel." 

"  What  sort  of  tackle  shall  I  bring,  Billy  ? " 

"Tackle!  Why,  I  always  tackle  'em  with  a 
club." 

And  it  was  found,  indeed,  upon  further  inquiry, 
that  when  in  the  spring  the  pickerels  ran  up  into  the 
shallow,  narrow  little  streams  of  the  prairies  (which 
are  usually  dry  in  summer),  one  man  in  high  rubber 
boots  waded  noisily  in  the  stream  above,  while  the 
other  stood  at  some  narrow,  shallow  place  and  clubbed 
the  fleeing  fishes  as  they  passed. 

A  queer  kind  of  fishing  is  that  where  one  fish 
is  made  to  catch  another.  The  habit  which  we  have 
noted  as  peculiar  to  the  suckfishes  or  remoras — that 
of  fastening  themselves  on  to  sharks — is  used  by  West 
Indians  and  some  Eastern  nations  to  capture  the  latter 
fish.  A  string  is  fastened  to  the  suckfish,  and  it  is  let 
loose  in  the  water.  After  a  while  it  sticks  to  a  shark, 
and  both  are  drawn  in. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Chinese  especially  train 
cormorants — a  diving  bird  of  the  pelican  group — to 
pursue  fish  under  water  and  bring  them  in  when  cap- 
tured. A  strap  is  put  around  the  bird's  throat,  so 
that  it  can  not  swallow  the  prey. 

Perhaps,  after  all,  nothing  excels  in  queerness  the 


ROD  AND  LINE. 


245 


method  of  fishing  sometimes  practiced  by  the  natives 
of  Africa — that  of  digging  for  fish  in  dry  land. 

You  recall  our  mention  of  the  habits  of  certain 
lungfishes — that  of  burying  themselves  in  a  ball  of 
mud,  which  dries  hard  around  them,  forming  a  case. 
You  will  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  learn  that  at 
the  dry  season  the  people  of  these  regions  go  over 
the  bottoms  of  these  dry  ponds  and  dig  fish  as  we  dig- 
potatoes  or  clams. 

In  the  same  way  we  might  find  certain  little  fishes. 


FIG.   98. — Dragonet   (Callyonymus  lyra). 


the  gobies,  under  rocks  on  eome  parts  of  our  Pacific 
coast  after  the  tide  has  gone  out.  Among  the  gobies 
is  placed  the  beautiful  dragon et.  In  other  places  the 
mud -skippers  may  be  shot,  if  we  choose,  as  upland 
game. 

But  the  method  of  methods  in  fishing,  when  mere 
food  and  a  living  are  not  concerned,  is  that  with  rod 
and  line.  While  one  may  fish  thus  from  a  small  boat, 
far  out  in  lake,  river,  or  bay,  the  sport  is  at  its  best 


246  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

only  when  practiced  from  the  banks  of  a  rather  small 
stream.  Here  it  involves  something  more  than  dib- 
bling, where  we  simply  throw  in  and  draw  out  at 
random.  It  means  that  you  should  know  what  sort 
of  fishes  are  in  the  stream ;  what  kind  of  places  they 
lie  around  in,  or  where  they  go  specially  to  feed ; 
what  things  they  generally  feed  on,  and  what  prey 
they  are  after  the  day  upon  which  you  are  fishing  for 
them ;  for  a  trout  leaping  at  caddis-flies  on  a  certain 
afternoon  is  not,  on  that  day,  nosing  the  bottom  for 
"  helgramites."  It  means,  therefore,  that  you  should 
know  how  deep  to  sink  your  line  and  what  bait  to  use, 
and  even  what  the  color  of  it  should  be — or  what 
special  color  is  required  for  a  particular  time  of  day. 
A  fish  may  leap  at  a  brown  fly  in  the  sun  and  refuse 
it  in  the  shade,  or  take  a  red  one  at  noon  and  a  white 
one  only  as  the  twilight  comes  on.  Lures  that  are 
"  killing  "  in  one  creek,  nay,  iri  one  pool,  may  not  be 
noticed  in  another.  With  your  best  knowledge  you 
will  often  fail.  You  may  try  in  vain  all  the  lures  you 
know,  and  yet  find  a  fish  hungry  and  anxiously  leap- 
ing at  the  sinker  inches  above  your  hook. 

Then,  the  weather  :  we  have  seen  how  fishes  are 
influenced  by  the  changes  of  it.  Just  before  storms 
they  are  active  and  feeding,  for  insects  are  flying  low 
then,  and  all  else  is  moving,  too.  It  is  a  good  time 
to  go  fishing ;  and  one  must  be  a  weather  prophet,  at 
least  enough  of  one  to  know  when  the  wind  is  in  the 
east.  There  are  days  when  fishes  are  sullen  and  sim- 
ply will  not  bite,  even  in  biting  season.  The  "  times  " 
and  seasons  are  something  the  angler  must  learn — 


SKILL  REQUIRED.  247 

learn  to  feel  in  his  very  bones  as  the  fish  feels — and 
when  he  feels  that  the  bass  are  feeding,  or  the  trout 
rising,  then  the  desire  to  angle*  for  them  becomes  a 
passion  whose  prompting  he  can  scarcely  resist. 

He  rushes  out  and  has  gone  back  again  in  spirit  to 
the  times  when  his  forefathers  wore  the  plumes  of  the 
savage,  and  with  a  sinew  or  a  thong  of  skin  tied  to 
a  bent  bone  or  a  stone  crossbar,  snatched  the  scaly 
giants  from  their  watery  homes. 

He  finds  a  keen  pleasure  in  matching  his  human 
skill  against  the  cunning  of  the  finny  tribes,  and  re- 
joices in  making  a  slender  thread  do  the  work  of  a 
cable  in  tiring  out  the  tyrant  of  the  pools. 


TALK   XXII. 

A  glance  over  the  field  and  a  review  of  the  great  groups  of  the 
fishes,  and  some  of  their  subdivisions ;  or  families,  genera,  and 
species. 

WE  saw  near  the  first  (in  Talk  III)  that  fishes  are 
divided  into  great  groups,  and  we  have  been  com- 
pelled to  speak  of  them  as  so  divided  ;  but  now  we 
may  show  that  they  are  further  divided  and  sub- 
divided till  we  get  down  to  some  of  those  species 
which  we  may  chance  to  meet  in  our  daily  excursions, 
either  in  the  field  or  the  markets. 

We  recall  that  in  speaking  of  the  great  groups  we 
found  that  the  dividing  line  was  that  one  which  lay 
most  nearly  in  the  midst  of  the  averages  of  all  the 
peculiarities  of  different  fishes.  Thus  the  structure  of  a 
great  many  parts  had  to  be  considered.  We  could  not 
well  hold  fast  to  any  one  trait  as  common  to  all  fishes 
in  one  group.  In  our  division  of  the  sharks  from  the 
higher  fishes,  for  instance,  it  was  stated  then  that 
shark-forms  had  the  gill -slits  uncovered  and  that  all 
higher  forms  had  them  covered.  While  this  is  gener- 
ally true,  there  is  the  spookfish  (Chimasra),  in  which 
the  slit  is  covered  by  a  fold  of  skin  merely,  and 
not  by  the  peculiar  bone,  which  we  call  the  gill-cover, 
248 


SPOOKFISHES. 


249 


Likewise  the  lower  jawbone  is  not  hinged  as  a  shark's. 
But  this  creature  is  not  a  so-called  bony  fish.  It  is 
therefore  a  connecting  link,  and  the  students  have 
felt  compelled  to  put  it  in  a  group  by  itself. 

It  is  true  of  other  fishes  that,  as  a  rule,  part 
of  their  traits  point  to  one  class  or  kinship  and  the 
rest  point  to  another.  Sometimes  these  different 
traits  are  so  nicely  balanced,  that  it  is  very  difii- 


FIG.    99. — The    pilot  fish    (Naucrates  ductor),    upper  figure.     Spook- 
fish  (Chimsera  monstrosa),  lower  figure. 

cult  to  assign  the  fish  to  its  proper  place  among  its 
kind. 

Besides  this  gill -slit  and  the  jawbone's  low  style  of 
joint  in  these  spookfishes,  they  have  the  peculiar  skin, 
the  queer  heart,  the  twisted  valves  in  the  lower  digest- 
ive tract,  the  teeth,  the  meeting  of  the  eye-nerves, 


250  THE   STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 

the  fastening  of  the  gills  to  the  skin,  and  many 
other  things  which  seem  to  point  shark  ward,  but 
other  characters  belonging  to  these  fishes  are  also 
found  among  the  higher  forms  only.  Scholars  differ 
about  which  one  of  these  contradicting  traits  is  the 
most  important,  and  consequently  we  find  many  dif- 
ferent arrangements  or  classifications.  So  great  is 
this  intergrading  of  peculiarities  that  the  sturgeon- 
forms  and  the  bony  fishes  are  not  any  longer  sep- 
arated by  modern  students.  Thus  the  squarish 
(ganoid)  scales  will  no  longer  distinguish  the  former. 
Some  fishes  have  these  and  the  ordinary  kind  also. 
The  hardness  or  softness  of  the  skeleton  will  not  even 
answer ;  the  garfish  is  evidently  a  low  sturgeon-form 
but  its  skeleton  is  bony.  And  so  it  goes. 

Still,  these  great  divisions  of  shark-forms,  stur- 
geon-forms, lungfishes,  and  bony  fishes  take  in  very 
definitely  all  the  real  fishes,  except  a  few  on  the 
ragged  edges.  Sometimes  these  latter  seern  just  a 
little  more  strongly  attached  to  one  group  than  to 
the  other ;  and  often  they  appear  about  to  make  a 
group  by  themselves.  It  is  these  things  about  which 
the  scholars  delight  to  dispute.  The  author  remem- 
bers that  when  a  child  he  wondered  why  all  this 
could  not  be  settled — not  knowing  then  that  any  new 
fact — the  finding  of  a  new  fish,  alive  or  fossil — may 
compel  a  change  in  classification  or  leave  it  a  thing 
to  be  laughed  at.  "We  must  not  despise  the  man  who 
pays  so  much  attention  to  such  matters,  for  we  learn  of 
him  all  we  know  about  classification  and  structure. 

The   divisions   are  matters  of   human  judgment. 


GANOID  RELATIONSHIPS.  251 

Every  great  naturalist  is  apt  to  have  a  classification 
of  his  own.  All  are  liable  to  err ;  but  even  their 
blunders  are  helpful.  Thus  our  great  naturalist, 
Agassiz,  tried  to  class  all  fishes  by  scales  alone.  The 
single  feature  would  not  hold,  for  reasons  that  we  have 
seen ;  but  he  opened  the  eyes  of  the  thinking  world 
wonderfully,  and  found  a  key  to  the  rocks  which 
unlocked  a  great  treasure  of  knowledge.  We  have  to 
know  something  of  a  fish's  history  to  be  sure  of  its 
kinship ;  and  without  placing  it  in  its  proper  group, 
there  would  be  such  confusion  of  unlike  forms  that 
we  could  not  even  think  intelligently  about  them. 

Thus  most  ganoids  (sturgeon-forms)  are  fossil ; 
only  a  few  genera  are  living  now.  They  are  thought 
to  form  the  connecting  link  between  all  the  other 
true  fishes.  This  relation  is  shown  in  the  diagram 
at  page  210. 

They  are  thus  cousins  to  them  all. 

Within  these  great  groups  are  other  smaller 
groups  called  orders,  wherein  many  having  the  same 
forms  of  internal  structure  are  classed  together. 
This  often  includes  a  large  number  of  fishes  which 
differ  very  much  in  outside  appearance.  Under 
these  orders  there  are  certain  other  smaller  groups 
which  are  much  more  alike,  and  these  are  known  as 
families.  Under  these  still  will  be  found  a  number  of 
kinds  of  fishes  which  have  the  same  rather  more  out- 
ward peculiarities,  and  these  are  called  genera;  while, 
with  still  more  merely  outward  resemblances,  there 
comes  the  last  grouping — that  of  a  lot  of  individual 
or  single  fishes,  all  of  which  are  quite  alike  in  every 
18 


252  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

way  except  size.  These  are  put  into  the  last  division 
possible,  called  species.  We  can  go  no  further  in 
dividing,  except  to  say  that  any  one  fish  is  never 
exactly  like  any  other  one.  This  is  the  individual ; 
and  we  know  no  two  individual  things  in  Nature  that 


FIG.    100.— Lancelot,    or  Amphi-        FIG.  101.— Lamprey  (Petromyzon 
oxus  (Branchiostoma).  Americanus).     (LeSueur.) 

are  precisely  alike ;  even  the  leaves  on  a  tree  differ  a 
little  from  each  other. 

The  lancelet  represents  all  these  divisions  in  itself, 
there  being  only  the  one  species. 

The  lam  prey -forms  have  two  orders — the  hag- 
fishes,  and  the  lampreys  proper.  Of  this  last  there 
are  two  genera  (plural  of  genus,  meaning  literally 
kinds)  and  several  species. 

In  the  shark-forms  there  are  perhaps  only  the 
two  orders,  so  frequently 
mentioned  in  this  book,  the 
sharks  proper  and  the  rays. 
But  several  families  of  each 
FIG.  102.  —  Hag,  or  Myxine  may  |)e  found  even  around 

(Myxinelimosa).     (Girard.)  AT      ,-,     A 

our  JN  orth  American  coasts. 

The  important  divisions  are  represented  by  the 
Port  Jackson  shark,  found  around  Australia,  which 
has  crushing  teeth  only ;  the  great  basking  sharks, 
whose  teeth  are  sharp  but  small ;  and  the  terribly 


SHARKS  AND  RAYS. 


253 


ferocious  sharks,  the  hammer-headed  being  one    of 
these. 

Some  of  the  small  sharks,  with  two  dorsal  fins, 
and  a  spine  in  each,  are  called  dogfishes.  The 
thresher  shark  and  the  porbeagles  are  other  mem- 
bers of  this  great  shark  group.  Perhaps  the  most  in- 
teresting member  of  this 
division  is  the  frilled 
shark,  a  long,  eel-shaped, 
deep  -  sea  kind,  which 
seems  to  be  widely  dis- 
tributed, and  a  very  old 
form.  While  by  a  sci- 
entist it  has  never  been 
found  having  a  length 
of  more  than  seven  feet, 
yet  sailors  have  captured 
so  -  called  sea  -  serpents 
which  were  twenty-five 
feet  long,  and  which 
were  quite  probably  this 
fish.  It  is  doubtless  one 
of  the  lowest  of  living 
true  fishes. 

Within  the  shark  di- 
vision (but  very  like  a 
ray)  is  the  so-called  angel-fish,  with  its  pectoral  fins, 
large  and  winglike.  It  shows  that  it  lies  in  between 
the  two  orders. 

We  can  not  stop  upon  the  different  kinds  of  rays, 
except  to  note  the  sawfishes  (see  Fig.  44),  the  sting- 


FlG.  103. — Sting-ray  (Trygon  has- 
tata).     (Storer.) 


254  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

rays  (see  Fig.  103),  the  electric  rays,  the  sea-devils,  and 
eagle  rays — all  forming  this  group.  The  skates  differ 
from  the  rays  in  having  rather  a  thick  tail,  two  dorsal 
fins,  and  the  shape  squarer. 

Skates  do  not  have  spines  on  their  tails,  and  rays 
do  not  have  two  dorsal  fins — sometimes  none  at  all. 

As  noted,  the  Chinw&rcB  or  spookfishes  form  a 
group  to  themselves.  As  you  may  see  by  the  cut 
(Fig.  99)  they  are  very  peculiar,  seeming  to  lie  be- 
tween the  sharks  and  the  lung-fishes. 

The  lungfishes  have  two  orders,  as  they  were 
originally  divided,  but  since  there  are  known  only 

three  species  of  these 
fishes  now  living,  we 
scarcely  think  of 
them  as  forming 

O 

orders. 

The  Lepidosiren 
is  found  in  Brazil. 
Its  body  is  rather  eel- 
like,  and  its  fins  are 
mere  fleshy  threads. 

FIG.    104  -Lepidosiren.  jt  bag  evident]y  been 

degraded,  and  has  four  gill-arches.  Close  akin  to 
it  (in  the  same  order)  is  the  Protopterus  of  the  Nile 
region  of  Africa.  Its  limbs  also  are  threadlike,  and 
the  body  is  much  like  an  eel's,  but  it  has  six  gill -arches. 
The  Australian  lungfish  (Ceratodus)  has  broad, 
useful  fins  with  scales  upon  them,  and  a  bone  run- 
ning lengthwise  through  them.  It  is  the  oldest  form, 
and  consequently  the  nearest  to  the  original  kind. 


STURGEON-FORMS. 


255 


In  fact,  it  is  a  remnant  left  over  from  those  periods  of 
the  long-ago,  before  our  coal  was  formed  in  the  earth. 
It  more  closely  resembles  the  bony  fishes  than  either 
of  the  other  two  which  are  newer.  These  last,  espe- 
cially Lepidosiren,  are  very  close  to  the  amphibians. 
By  wiggling  in  the  mud,  however,  they  have  almost 
lost  their  limbs.  Ceratodus  has  been  placed  in  a  dif- 
ferent order  from  the  other  two,  but  there  is  a  tend- 
ency now  to  put  all  these  into  one  order.  All  have 


FIG.    105. — The    paddlefish    (Scaphirhynchops  platyrrliynchus),   under 
view  above. 

hearts  chambered  very  much  as  are  those  of  the 
salamanders. 

Among  the  sturgeon-forms  there  are  a  great  many 
orders,  if  we  should  include  those  found  fossil  in  the 
rocks. 

Of  those  living  now  in  our  waters  there  are  the 
paddlefish,  with  its  long  snout,  much  like  a  duck's 
bill ;  the  garfish  or  garpike,  with  its  long  jaws,  so 
terribly  armed  with  teeth ;  the  bowfins,  with  their 


256  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

peculiar  degraded  gills  and  lunglike  air-bladder  ;  and 
the  sturgeons  proper,  with  their  sharp,  soft,  snoutlike 
mouths  and  gristly  skeletons.  These  are  our  Eastern 
United  States  kinds. 

Of  the  bony  fishes  proper  there  are  now  living, 
the  world  over,  great  numbers  of  orders  and  families. 
These  are  the  fishes  which  we  meet  and  use  for  food, 
mostly,  and  which  we  pursue  for  recreation.  They 
are  the  typical,  highest  expression  of  the  finny  form. 

Dr.  Jordan,  in  his  manual  of  the  vertebrates — one 
x/of  the  most  useful  books  any  Nature-lover  can  own— 
notes  thirteen  orders,  seventy -three  families,  over  two 
hundred  genera,  and  about  four  hundred  and  forty 
species  of  fishes,  which  may  be  found  in  the  waters  of 
our  Eastern  United  States  coasts  and  rivers.  Many 
of  these  are  unimportant,  however.  There  are  really 
only  about  twenty  families  which  are  noted  as  food 
and  game  fishes.  A  list  and  description  of  these 
can  be  found  in  the  next  talk. 


TALK  XXIII. 

Some  finny  friends  worth  knowing  and  how  to  know  them ;  or 
twenty-five  families  of  familiar  fishes,  and  a  key. 

THIS  talk  is  somewhat  in  the  form  of  an  appendix, 
and  is  for  reference  at  any  time,  even  later  in  life, 
whenever  it  may  be  needed. 

Before  starting  on  the  descriptions  the  reader  had 
better  review  the  location,  arrangement,  and  shape  of 
the  fins  found  at  pages  29-38,  since  fishes  are  distin- 
guished so  largely  by  these.  The  dorsal  and  anal,  it  will 
be  recalled,  are  often  divided.  The  front  part  may  be 
all  rays,  all  spines,  or  part  rays  and  part  spines ;  the 
spines  always  before  the  rays.  The  rear  part  may  or 
may  not  be  widely  separate  from  the  front  part,  and 
it  may  consist  of  a  few  spines  and  some  soft  rays,  or 
it  may  be  all  spines  or  all  soft  rays  (rarely).  There 
is  usually  one  spine  at  least  in  it,  if  it  is  separated  from 
the  other  part.  The  anal  fin  may  be  similar  to  the 
dorsal,  but  it  is  not  so  often  referred  to. 

In  describing  these,  abbreviations  are  usual,  but 
we  shall  use  figures  instead  of  words,  and  the  letter 
S.  for  spines  and  R.  for  rays.  D.  —  dorsal ;  A.  = 
anal ;  Y.  =  ventral ;  P.  =  pectoral.  The  expressions 
of  the  number  and  arrangement  of  the  fins,  spines, 
rays,  etc.,  is  called  the  "  fin-formula." 

257 


258  THE  STORY  OF  THE  PISHES. 

Our  little  sunfish  is  thus  described :  D.  9  S.,  10  R. ; 
A.  3  S.,  10  R.  This  shows  that  the  whole  fin  has  9 
spines  and  10  rays,  but  that  they  are  not  separated.  If 
there  were  separate  parts,  a  long  dash  is  put  between, 
thus  9  S. — 10  R.,  etc.  In  the  codfish,  where  both 
fins  are  divided,  the  fin  formula  for  D.  is  :  D.  14  R.— 
21  R.— 19  R. ;  and  for  anal  it  is :  A.  20  R.— 18  R. 
This  shows  at  a  glance  the  arrangement  of  the  fins, 
and  often  distinguishes  a  fish  independent  of  color 
or  size.  Thus  we  see  that  cods  have  the  dorsal  fin  in 
three  parts,  the  anal  in  two,  and  all  are  soft-rayed— 
no  spines. 

The  following  twenty-five  families  represent  the 
usual  food  and  game  fishes  of  the  Eastern  United 
States,  both  in  the  fresh-water  streams  and  lakes  and 
in  the  waters  of  our  coasts. 

If  the  reader  wishes  to  identify  any  of  the  com- 
mon fishes  of  the  field  or  market,  the  whole  list  of 
families  can  be  looked  over ;  but  a  little  study  of  the 
key  at  the  end  will  lead  directly  to  the  family  under 
which  the  more  important  species  are  distinguished. 
The  numbers  in  the  key  refer  to  the  numbers  of  the 
families,  which  follow : 

1.  THE  STURGEON  FAMILY  (Accipenseridce). — Body 
long;  snout  projecting  ;  toothless;  four  barbels;  head 
with  bony  plates ;  tail  unevenly  lobed  ;  body  covered 
with   five  rows  of   shields   having   ridges  on   them. 
Only  one,  the  sturgeon,  is  really  a  food  fish. 

2.  The  CATFISH  FAMILY  (Siluridce). — Our  United 
States  forms  have  body  naked  ;  skin  slick  and  slimy ; 
eyes  small ;  head  broad,  low,  flat ;  mouth  wide ;  many 


260 


THE   STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 


barbels ;  teeth  in  bands ;  sharp,  strong  spines  in  the 
dorsal  and  pectoral  fins ;  eye  small  and  sly-looking. 
All  our  kinds  have  a  fat-fin  near  the  tail  on  top. 

Species. 

If  there  are  teeth  elsewhere  than  on  the  jaws,  the 
fish  is  one  of  the  two  great  "sea-cats"  found  on  our 


FIG.   107.— Catfish  (Silurus  giants). 

coasts.     The  "  topsail,"  so  called,  has  only  two  barbels 
on  the  chin,  while  the  sea-cat  has  four. 

If  there  are  teeth  on  the  jaws  and,  nowhere  else, 
the  fish  is  one  of  our  "  river  cats."  They  are  popu- 
larly distinguished  as  "  channel  cats  "  and  "  mud  cats." 
The  former  has  the  tail  much  forked,  the  latter 
scarcely  or  slightly  so.  The  white  or  silver  "  channel 
cat "  is  good  food,  and  worthy  of  any  angler's  steel  as 
a  game  fish.  All  are  frequently  taken  at  night  by 
setting  trot  lines  across  a  stream,  with  a  fringe  of  low- 


SUCKERS,   ETC.  261 

sunk  hooks  dangling  from  them.     In  the  East  they 
are  often  called  pouts,  especially  one  species. 

3.  SUCKERS,  BUFFALOES,  ETC.  (CatostomidcB). — 
Body  scaly,  a  little  high  and  quite  stout  at  the  shoul- 
ders ;  head  naked,  no  barbels ;  mouth  small,  sometimes 
almost  round,  as  if  suited  for  sucking  merely  ;  no  teeth 
on  jaws ;  no  spines  in  dorsal ;  no  fat-fins ;  air-bladder, 
a  long  sac,  as  if  tied  in  one  or  two  places.  Lateral 
line  often  imperfect  or  none. 


In  the  buffalo  group  and  in  the  "  black  horse  "  or 
Missouri  sucker,  the  scales  are  large,  and  the  dorsal 
fin  has  more  than  twenty  rays.  In  the  fine-scaled 
suckers  there  are  less  than  twenty  rays.  These  latter 
include  the  common  suckers,  "  stone-toters,"  the  "  red- 
horse,"  and  so-called  "  mullets."  These  last  two  have 
the  air-bladder  tied  (constricted)  twice,  while  in  the 
sucker  it  is  tied  only  once. 

All  are  found  in  our  inland  creeks  and  rivers,  run- 
ning up  at  early  spring  to  spawn.  They  are  often  shot 
as  they  u float,"  or  speared  as  they  pass  the  "riffles." 
They  take  the  hook  shyly,  and  are  poor  food,  except 
for  occasional  baking ;  but  they  are  often  avoided  on 
account  of  the  great  number  of  forked  bones. 

4.  MOON-EYES  (Hyodontidce). — Body  oblong;  scales 
large  and  silvery ;  lateral  line  plain ;  air-bladder  a 
simple  sac,  not  tied  ;  belly  with  a  sort  of  keel  or  sharp 
ridge  ;  mouth  at  end  of  snout,  rather  cut  downward. 
Rays  of  tail,  about  thirty-two ;  those  of  dorsal,  nine 
to  twelve. 


262  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

The  single  species  of  interest  in  this  family  is 
sometimes  called  "silver  bass,"  or  "toothed  herring," 
but  perhaps  "  moon-eye  "  is  the  more  common  name. 
It  is  plentiful  in  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  It  is  of  a  greenish-yellow  color,  with  silvery 
sides.  Fin-formula  :  D.  12  R. ;  A.  28  E. 

5.  TARPUMS   (Elopidce). — Scales    immense,    bril- 
liant and  metallic  in  the  tarpums ;    smaller  in  ten- 
pounder  ;  mouth  large,    and  cleft  to  or  beyond  the 
eye ;  lower  jaw  prominent,  and  having  a  bony  plate 
beneath  it ;  a  fat  eyelid  ;  eye  large. 

Fins  of  tarpum,  D.  12  R.  ;  A.  20  R.  Fins  of 
ten-pounder,  D.  20  R. ;  A.  13  R. 

These  are  found  around  and  near  our  Florida  coast, 
and  are  much  sought  after  by  so-called  sportsmen, 
simply  to  kill  for  the  mere  enjoyment  of  killing. 
They  are  not  good  for  food,  but  are  gamy,  active,  arid 
difficult  to  "  land  "  or  bring  into  the  boat.  The  cap- 
ture of  one  seems  to  satisfy  wonderfully  the  destruc- 
tive instincts  of  the  average  angler. 

6.  HERRINGS,    SHADS,     ETC.     (Clupeidce). — Body 
slim,  beautifully  shaped  for  speed ;  scaly,  with  head 
naked  ;  teeth  almost  wholly  wanting ;  tail  slender  and 
much  forked ;  no  lateral  line ;  dorsal  fin  not  larger 
than  the  anal.     Except  in  one  case  the  belly  is  sharp- 
edged  and  "  saw-toothed." 

Species. 

There  are  many  species.  In  the  round  herring 
the  belly  is  round  and  smooth  ;  in  the  common  her- 
ring the  "  saw-teeth  "  on  the  belly  are  faint  and  there 


SALMONS,   TROUTS,  ETC.  263 

are  some  teeth  on  the  front  part  of  the  roof  of  the 
mouth  (D.  18  E. ;  A.  17  E.). 

In  the  ale  wife,  summer  herring,  shads,  and  some 
others  the  saw-teeth  on  the  body  are  strong  and  there 
are  no  teeth  on  the  front  of  the  roof  of  the  mouth. 
The  gizzard-shad  has  the  last  raj  of  the  dorsal  fin  run 
out  into  a  long  thread  (D.  12  K. ;  A.  31  K.).  All 
others  except  the  thread-herring  (D.  19  R. ;  A.  24  R.) 
have  the  dorsal  ordinary.  The  shads  may  be  known 
from  the  ale  wife  and  herrings  by  having  about  sixty 
scales  in  the  lateral  line,  while  the  others  have  about 
fifty.  The  former  are  also  deeper-bodied.  The  men- 
haden has  the  anal  and  dorsal  of  the  same  number 
of  rays  (19),  the  dorsal  small  and  far  back,  and  the 
free  edges  of  the  scales  are  rough  and  grooved.  In 
the  shad  the  dorsal  is  nearer  to  the  snout  than  to  the 
tail.  Of  course,  the  gizzard-shad's  fowl-like  stomach 
and  low  mouth  easily  distinguish  it.  It  is  the  only 
herring-form  that  combines  a  low  mouth,  a  long  fila- 
ment, and  twelve  rays  in  the  dorsal. 

The  herring  family  is  a  useful  one — at  home  in 
the  sea,  but  running  up  fresh  water  to  spawn.  They 
are  at  certain  times  and  places  excellent  food. 

7.  SALMONS,  TROUTS,  ETC.  (Salmonidce). — Body 
long,  trout-shaped ;  head  pointed  ;  mouth  tending  to 
be  a  little  low ;  barbels  none  ;  a  fat-fin  behind  dorsal ; 
dorsal  near  middle  of  body;  lateral  line  plain;  tail 
forked ;  belly  round,  sometimes  flattish  in  front ;  ver- 
tical fins  rather  short  (Fig.  108). 

These  are  among  the  gamiest  and  most  toothsome 
of  fishes,  giving  the  angler  all  the  exercise  of  cun- 


264  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

ning  and  skill  in  hooking  and  landing  them,  and  re- 
warding him  well  for  his  pains  by  their  excellent 
flavor  and  freedom  from  troublesome  bones.  They 
are  widely  distributed  in  lakes,  rivers,  and  small 
streams — largely  northern  cool-water  lovers. 


FIG.  108. — Eainbow  trout  (Salmo  iridens.) 

On  Southern  coasts  many  speckled  fishes  are  called 
trout  which  do  not  belong  in  this  family. 

/Species. 

The  whitefishes,  ciscoes,  etc.,  of  the  Great  Lakes 
have  jaws  nearly  toothless,  and  have  large  scales. 
Color  quite  whitish.  All  others  of  this  group  have 
teeth,  and  the  scales  are  small  or  apparently  wanting 
(in  some  trouts). 

The  grayling  is  distinguished  by  having  about 
twenty  rays  in  the  dorsal ;  all  the  others  have  scarcely 
more  than  half  so  many.  The  ciscoes  and  lake  herring 


PIKES  OR  PICKERELS.  265 

(so  called)  may  be  known  from  whitefish  by  having 
the  lower  jaw  longer  than  the  upper. 

The  salmons  and  trouts  have  teeth  on  the  tongue 
and  not  so  many  as  twenty  rays  in  the  dorsal.  If  the 
front  part  of  the  roof  of  the  mouth  be  flat,  the  fish  is 
a  salmon  ;  if  it  have  a  ridge  projecting  -downward,  it 
is  a  trout.  Lake-trout  spotted  with  gray  ;  brook  trout 
spotted  with  red.  These  spots  are  all  below  lateral 
line  in  the  true  brook  trout ;  in  the  Kangely  Lake 
forms,  the  spots  extend  up  above  the  lateral  line. 

8.  SMELTS  (Argentinidce)  are  usually  placed  in  a 
family  to  themselves,  but  they  are  really  little  salmon- 
forms,  with  a  peculiar  saclike  stomach,  which  has  the 
two  openings  for  the  entrance  and  exit  of  the  food 
almost  against  each  other.     No  other  distinction — ex- 
cept size  when  grown — can  be  made. 

9.  THE    PIKES   OR   PICKERELS  (Esocidce). — Body 
quite  long,  a  little  deeper  than  wide ;  scales  small ; 
lateral  line  not  complete  ;  mouth  very  large,  terribly 
armed  with  unequal  teeth ;  the  lower  jaw  noticeably 
the  longer ;  head  scaly  on  sides,  but  naked  on  top ; 
air-bladder  present. 

Species. 

There  is  only  one  genus  containing  five  species  in 
America.  The  pike  or  great  northern  pickerel  has 
only  half  the  gill-cover  scaly,  while  the  muskellunges 
have  the  gill-covers  scaleless  or  naked. 

Both  are  really  the  sharks  of  the  fresh  waters, 
preying  upon  any  living  thing  that  they  can  swallow. 
Like  the  salmon-forms,  they  are  especially  attracted 


266  THE  STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 

by  a  moving  object.  They  are  often  lured  in  this 
way,  biting  readily  at  a  revolving  piece  of  bright 
metal,  called  a  "spoon,"  as  it  is  towed  behind  a  boat. 
They  are  abundant  in  the  lakes  and  streams  of  the 
North  and  Northeast. 

10.  EELS  (Anguillidce). — Body  snakelike ;  vertical 
fins  long,  running  out  upon  the  tail ;  scales  small  or 


FIG.  109.— Eel. 


not  apparent ;  lateral  line  evident ;  ventral  fins  want- 
ing ;  mouth  large  and  toothed. 

Easily  recognized ;  very  fat  and  tender.  A  prejudice 
against  their  form  prevents  their  use  as  food  by  many 
persons,  though  they  are  not  at  all  akin  to  snakes. * 

11.  MULLETS  (MugilidcB). — Body  oblong ;    scales 
large ;  mouth  small  with  nearly  no  teeth ;  lateral  line 
gone ;  dorsal  in  two  parts,  with  four  spines  in  front 
part ;  anal  fin  with  two  or  three  spines. 

The  striped  mullet  has  dark  stripes  lengthwise ; 
the  white  mullet  is  without  stripes.  n 

12.  MACKERELS,  ETC.  (ScombridcB). — Body  long, 
much  higher  than  broad  ;  head  sharp,  tapering  from 

*  It  seems  fairly  well  established  now  that  the  blood  of  eels 
injected  into  the  tissues  of  other  animals  is  as  fatally  poisonous  as 
snake-venom. 


MACKERELS. 


267 


above  and  below  ;  month  opening  wide,  cut  far  back ; 
gill-slit  noticeably  large  (as  is  usual  in  swift  fishes) ; 
dorsal  fin  in  two  parts,  with  a  series  of  tinlets  (in  all 
of  ours)  behind  on  the  tail-stem  ;  finlets  behind  anal 
fin  also  ;  stem  of  tail  very  slim  ;  the  fin  deeply  forked, 
with  lobes  very  long ;  colors  bluish,  steely,  splendid  ; 
ventral  fins  nearly  as  far  forward  as  the  pectorals. 


FIG.  110. — Mackerel  (Scomber  scombrus). 

Species. 

The  common  mackerel  has  only  five  finlets.  All 
our  other  forms  have  seven  or  more.  It  has  also  no 
corselet  or  collar  of  scales,  like  a  mantle  about  the 
neck,  as  have  all  the  others.  The  fins  are  D.  11  S.— 
12  R— 5  finlets  ;  anal  12  R— 5  finlets. 

The  Spanish  mackerel  is  even  slimmer,  longer, 
with  tail  lobes  more  slender  and  deeply  forked. 
D.  18  S.— 17 R— 9  finlets;  A.  2  S.— 18  R— 8  finlets. 

The  kind  of  bonito  found  with  us  is  four  feet 
19 


268  THE  STORY   OP  THE  FISHES. 

long.      D.  21  S.,  1  R.— 13  R.— 7  finlets ;    A.  2  S.— 
13  R.— 7  finlets. 


FIG.  111. — Tunny,  or  horse  mackerel  (Orcynus  tliynnus). 

The  tunny  is  of  immense  size,  often  ten  feet  long, 
sometimes  fifteen.  It  may  be  known  by  its  size, 
but  the  fins  are  D.  14  S.— 1  S.,  12  R— 8  finlets ;  A. 
2S.— 12  R.— 8  finlets. 

13.  POMPANOS  (Carangidce). — In  this  family  are 
some  forms  sometimes  called  "  mackerels,"  but  they  are 
of  smaller  account  than  the  true  mackerels.  The  one 
of  curious  interest  is  the  pilot-fish  (Fig.  99),  which 
is  so  often  associated  with  the  shark  and  others.  It  is 
bluish  with  six  dark  distinct  vertical  bars ;  no  finlets. 
The  scad  of  our  coasts  is  bluish  with  ten  or  twelve 
dark  spots  on  the  side — usually  well  forward.  It  has 
a  single  finlet  above  and  below,  giving  it  a  formula 
D.  8  S.— 1  R.— 30  R.— 1  finlet ;  A.  2  S.— 24  R.— 1 
finlet.  The  "  yellow  mackerel "  is  yellow  with  a  black, 
rough  edged  spot  on  the  gill -cover,  and  it  has  scutes 
or  large  scales  along  the  lateral  line  ;  no  finlets.  The 
pompano  of  our  coasts  is  bluish  without  having  the 
sides  marked  with  black.  Its  pectorals  are  short  and 
not  bent  or  scythe-shaped  as  are  those  of  the  others 


BLUEFISH.  269 

noted ;  anal  fin  very  much  like  the  soft  part  of  the 
dorsal.  Anal  has  22  R. ;  dorsal,  25  E.  In  the  rud- 
der-fish the  anal  is  shorter  than  the  soft  dorsal.  Anal 
has  21  K. ;  dorsal,  38  R.  (see  Fig.  2,  page  5). 

The  cavalla  resembles  the  pompano,  but  has  pec- 
torals scythe-shaped,  and  8  spines  in  dorsal  instead  of 
6  as  in  the  pompano. 

14.  BLUEFISHES  (Pomafomidce). — This  family  has 
with  us  the  well-known  bluefish  only.     It  is  bluish 
with  silvery-white  under  parts ;  a  black  spot  on  the 
under  side  of  the  pectoral  fin  ;  spines  of  the  dorsal 
very  weak ;  the  stem  of  the  tail  is  thicker  than  that 
of  the  mackerels. 

15.  SUNFISHES  OR  PoNDFisHES  (CentrarchidcB).— 
Body  quite  oblong,  much  higher  than  wide,  the  depth 
being  nearly  half  the  length ;  body  outline   curved 
below  and  above  about  alike,  as  in  a  pumpkin  seed ; 
lateral  line  present,  often  much   bent  upward   near 
the   front ;   scales  rather   large ;   mouth   at   the   end 
of   the    head,   which  tapers   about    the    same    from 
above    and   below ;   gill  -  cover  ending  at  rear  in  a 
soft  membranous  point,  shaped  like  a  small  finger- 
nail or  scale  (see  Fig.  1,  page  2). 

These  are  often  called  perch  (or  more  frequently 
"  pee-yurch  "  in  the  Southwest),  to  which  family  they 
are  akin,  but  from  which  they  may  easily  be  distin- 
guished by  having  always  more  than  two  spines  in  the 
anal  fin.  Perches  have  only  one  or  two.  Sunfishes 
are  all  gamy,  active,  plucky  little  fellows,  great  ex- 
plorers of  unknown  waters,  always  ready  to  colonize 
any  pond  or  lake,  skipping  almost  across  lots. 


270  THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 

Many  are  small  and  insignificant,  yet  always  beau- 
tiful ;  but  such  as  the  crappies  (or  bachelors),  the 
so-called  breams,  the  grass-bass,  the  big-mouthed  and 
little-mouthed  basses — usually  styled  black  basses — all 
of  our  inland  warm  streams,  furnish  some  of  the  best 
food  and  most  exhilarating  angling. 

The  equal-finned  group  includes  the  crappie  and 
the  grass-  (or  calico-)  bass.  These  have  a  dorsal  fin 
which  extends  along  the  body  but  a  little  more 
than  the  anal.  Both  are  greenish-silvery,  with 
darker  green  spots  or  mottlings,  varying  with  the 
season.  The  grass-bass  has  the  back  of  its  neck  not 
humped  or  swelled.  Fins,  D.  7  S.,  15  K. ;  A.  6  S., 
17  R.  Mottlings  quite  green.  The  crappie  is  decidedly 
humped  on  the  back  of  the  head  or  neck.  Fins,  D.  6 
S.,  15  R ;  A.  6  S.,  17  R.  Mottlings  dark  green.  While 
the  other  may  have  seven  spines  in  the  dorsal,  the 
crappie  rarely  if  ever  has  so  many.  No  finer  pan  fish 
swims,  according  to  the  writer's  taste. 

In  the  unequal-finned  division  there  are,  first, 
those  with  the  tongue  toothless  and  the  body  very 
short  and  deep.  These  are  the  true  inland  sunfishes. 
(You  recall  that  there  is  a  large  "  stump-tailed'-  ocean 
fish  with  that  name  also.)  They  are  all  fine  biters 
and  good  to  eat,  though  tedious  to  catch  and  clean. 
The  author  has  caught  them  in  the  lakes  of  the  plains 
at  the  rate  of  one  a  minute. 

Among  those  with  body  short  and  teeth  on  the 
tongue  are  found  the  red-eyed  breams  or  goggle-eyes. 
One  has  fins'  thus :  D.  11  S.,  10  R. ;  A.  6  S.,  10  R. 
It  is  often  called  the  rock-bass.  The  other,  which  is 


FIG.  112. — Big-mouthed  black  bass  (Micropterus  salmoides),  upper  fig- 
ure. Little-mouthed  black  bass  (Micropterus  dolomiei),  lower 
figure. 


272  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

the  red-eyed  bream  proper,  usually  lias  only  three 
spines  in  the  anal  and  nine  rays.  The  European 
bream  belongs  to  a  different  family. 

Among  those  with  short  bodies  and  no  teeth  on  the 
tongue  there  are  such  common  and  important  kinds 
as  (1)  have  the  fins  red  or  orange  somewhere^  as  the 
green  sunfish.  It  has  body  green  and  brassy ;  blue 
spot  on  scales,  with  the  edges  of  scales  golden ;  fins 
blue  and  orange. 

The  long-eared  sunfish  is  yellowish-green ;  spots 
on  scales  blue ;  head  in  front  of  eye  striped  with 
bluish ;  lower  fins  with  much  red.  The  common  sun- 
fish  is  also  yellowish-green,  with  the  sides  largely 
mottled  with  blue  ;  lower  fins  almost  entirely  orange  ; 
dorsal  blue,  with  orange  spots. 

(2)  The  kinds  without  red  on  fins :  The  blue  sun- 
fish  has  no  red  on  the  fins ;  the  spines  are  very  high ; 
grown  fishes  not  spotted  or  marked ;  color,  pale  yel- 
lowish-green, darker  in  places. 

In  all  those  already  noted  the  body  is  nearly  half 
as  deep  as  it  is  long.  In  the  black  basses  the  depth 
is  only  about  one  third  of  the  length.  In  the  others 
the  dorsal  fin  is  rather  straight  on  the  top  edge,  but 
in  the  basses  it  is  very  noticeably  notched  between  the 
spines  and  soft  rays.  Fins,  D.  10  S.,  13  K. ;  A.  3  S., 
10  E.  (see  Fig.  112). 

In  the  large-mouthed  black  bass  the  mouth  is  very 
large ;  there  are  apt  to  be  eleven  soft  rays  in  the  anal 
fin,  and  it  is  said  that  "  the  ninth  spine  of  the  dorsal  is 
not  half  so  long  as  the  longest  spine." 

In  the  small -mouthed  black  bass  there  are  apt  to 


PERCHES.  273 

be  only  ten  soft  rajs  in  the  anal,  the  mouth  is  very 
small,  and  the  ninth  spine  of  dorsal  is  half  as  long  as 
the  longest.  To  the  angler  who  has  seen  both,  the 
open  mouth  distinguishes  them  at  a  glance. 

No  gamier  fish  abides  than  these  black  basses,  be- 
ing the  people's  fishes  that  come  to  them  in  what  are 
almost  domestic  waters,  making  a  line  spin  and  a 
pole  hum,  and  provoking  all  the  cunning  and  skill  of 
the  most  experienced  angler.  The  small -mouthed  is 
rather  the  favorite. 

16.  PERCHES  (proper)  (Percidce). — Body  longer 
and  slimmer  than  in  sunfishes — in  fact,  rather  round  ; 
the  gill-cover  ends  in  a  sort  of  spine,  instead  of  a  soft, 
membranous  flap,  as  in  the  sunfishes ;  dorsal  fin,  sepa- 
rated ;  spines  of  first  part,  from  six  to  fifteen ;  anal 
spines  one  or  two,  never  three  ;  ventrals  (placed  under 
pectorals)  have  one  spine  and  five  rays. 

A  large  part  of  the  family  in  the  United  States  is 
made  up  of  the  darters — little  things,  never  more  than 
four  inches  long,  sometimes  only  an  inch  and  a  half. 
They  may  be  distinguished  from  the  other  little  fishes, 
such  as  minnows,  chubs,  shiners,  etc.  (except  stickle- 
backs), by  having  spines  in  the  vertical  fins,  and  from 
the  sticklebacks  by  having  no  free  spines  (i.  e.,  not 
connected  with  the  rest  of  the  fin). 

These  darters  are  distinguished  from  all  other 
perches  by  not  having  the  bone  on  the  gill -cover 
strongly  saw-toothed  on  its  rear  edge. 

In  the  larger  and  more  important  perches  this 
bone  is  strongly  saw- toothed.  They  are  : 

(1)  The  common  yellow  perch  :  D.  13  S. — 1  S., 


274  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

14  E. ;  A.  2  S.,  7  R.  ;  body  rather  oblong ;  golden- 
yellow,  banded  with  dark  rings. 


FIG.  113. — White  perch  (Eoccus  Americanus),  upper  figure.      Yellow 
perch  (Perm  Americana),  lower  figure. 

(2)  The  pike- perch  or  wall-eyed  pike  (so  called) : 
D.  13  S.— 1  S.,  21  R.  ;  A.  2  S.,  12  R. ;  body  long, 
slimmer,    pikelike ;    greenish-yellow,    mottled    with 
brassy  places ;  the  fins  and  tail  mottled.     It  is  some- 
times called  "  jack-salmon  "  in  the  Southwest. 

(3)  The  sand-pike  or  sauger :  D.  13  S.— 1  S.,  18  R.  : 
A,  25 — 12  R.  ;    body   long,  salmonlike,  gray,  with 


SEA-BASSES.  275 

dark  blotches ;  a  large  rough- edged  spot  on  the  part 
of  pectorals  next  the  body. 

None  of  these  fishes  is  near  akin  to  either  sal- 
mons or  pikes. 

17.  THE  SEA-BASSES  (Serranidce). — Body  long ; 
mouth  large ;  teeth  on  front  part  of  the  roof  of  the 
mouth ;  gill-cover  armed  with  spines — the  bone  on 
it  saw-toothed ;  spines  in  anals  of  one  species  three ; 
anal  quite  short  in  extent  along  the  body. 

There  is  first  a  group  in  which  the  dorsal  lin  is 
deeply  notched.  In  the  "  white-perch  "  and  "  yellow- 
perch  "  (so  called)  the  parts  are  entirely  separated. 
The  white-bass  has  the  teeth  on  the  base  of  the 
tongue  in  one  patch ;  body  silvery -green  above, 
striped  faintly  with  darker  :  D.  9  S.— 1  S.,  14  E. ;  A. 
3,  S.— 12  R. 

The  yellow-bass  has  the  teeth  same  as  the 'last; 
body  more  or  quite  brassy  with  seven  very  plain 
Hack  stripes. 

The  so-called  "  white-perch  "  has  a  similar  arrange- 
ment of  the  teeth,  but  sides  silvery ;  not  marked. 
Fin  in  this  and  the  last :  D.  9  S.— 1  S.,  12  R.  ;  A. 
3  S.,  9  R. 

The  celebrated  striped -bass  has  the  teeth  on  the 
rear  part  of  the  tongue  in  two  patches ;  body  greenish- 
silvery,  with  about  eight  very  distinct  black  stripes. 
It  may  be  known  from  the  yellow-bass,  which  is 
likewise  beautifully  striped,  by  noticing  that  in  the 
former  the  parts  of  the  dorsal  tin  are  entirely  sepa- 
rate, while  in  the  latter  the  parts  are  evidently  joined 
at  the  base. 


276  THE  STORY   OF   THE   FISHES. 

In  the  black  sea-bass  the  dorsal  fin  is  all  in  one 
piece,  no  spine  appearing  in  second  part ;  the  spines 
have  threadlike  ends  running  from  them ;  body 
dusky  and  mottled ;  white  spots  on  dorsal :  D.  10  S., 
11  K. ;  A.  3  S,  7  E. 

18.  SNAPPERS  AND  PORGIES  (Sparidce). — Body 
oblong,  much  elevated  and  thickened  forward,  mak- 
ing the  fish  appear  hump-shouldered  ;  lateral  line 
present,  unbroken  ;  bone  on  gill-cover  often  toothed  ; 
anal  spines  3 ;  dorsal  spines  8  to  13.  Air-bladder 
present;  one  species  with  a  crest  or  ridge  on  the 
head. 

(1)  Some  have  teeth  on  the  front  part  of  the  roof 
of  the  mouth.     Among  these  are  the  snappers  and 
the  rudder-fish.     The    former  have  some  red  about 
them.     The  gray  snapper  is  mostly  green,  with  red 
below  only,  and  the  anal  fin  round  on  edge  ;  the  red 
snapper  is  mostly  red  with  anal  fin  pointed  and  pro- 
jecting near  the  middle.     The  rudder-fish  has  no  red 
about  it. '  It  has  D.  12  S.,  12  K. ;  while  the  others  each 
have  D.  10  S.,  14  K. 

(2)  All  the  rest  have  no  teeth  on  front  roof  of 
mouth ;  no  red.     The  pigfish  has  the  bone  on  gill- 
cover  saw-toothed  ;  sides  gray,  streaked  with  a  series 
of  yellow  spots.     D.  12  S.,  16  E. 

The  penfish  or  bream  (Lagodon  Rhomboides  of 
Linnaeus — so  many  fishes  are  called  breams)  is  silvery 
with  the  sides  striped  with  blue  and  yellow  or  golden, 
and  barred  faintly  with  six  blackish  bands :  D.  12  S., 

HE. 

The  sheepshead  is   plain   gray,  with   seven  very 


DRUMS,  WEAKFISHES,  ETC.  277 

black  and  quite  broad  bars  (crosswise)  (D.  12  S.,  11  K.) 
also,  but  no  yellowish  or  golden. 

The  porgy  is  gray,  with  purplish  places,  the  sides 
silvery  ;  no  markings  except  in  very  young :  D.  12  S., 
12  K. 

19.  DRUMS,  WEAKFISHES,  ETC.  (Scioenidw). — Body 
stout,  rather  long  and  ordinary ;  head  scaly ;  lateral 
line  running  clear  out  on  tail-fin  ;  dorsal  almost  cut 
in  two ;  the  soft  rear  part  with  twenty  to  thirtv 
rays;  not  more  than  two  spines  in  anal  fin;  dorsal 
spines  nine  or  ten,  the  fin  quite  divided. 

The  white  weakfish  and  the  silver  whiting  are 
silvery  without  spots,  streaks,  or  bars ;  snouts  short 
and  blunt.  The  first  has  the  anal  2  S.,  9  E. ;  the 
second  A.  1  S.,  9  R. ;  snout  sticking  far  out. 

All  the  rest  of  the  family  are  dotted  or  streaked 
in  some  way.  The  weakfish  proper  has  the  body 
brownish,  with  wavy  streaks  of  separate  spots;  fins 
not  spotted ;  no  scales  on  soft  parts  of  dorsal  and 
anal.  The  spotted  weakfish  is  dark  and  silver  with 
many  plain  spots  on  back  and  back  fins  :  A.  1  S.,  10  R. 
The  yellow-tail  is  a  silver  color  slightly  tinged  with 
greenish,  having  many  fine  points  or  dots  on  the  body 
and  fins.  The  lower  fins  are  yellow  as  well  as  the 
tail :  A.  2  S.,  9  R.  The  so-called  "  channel  bass " 
(Sdc&na  ocellata)  is  a  silvery  gray  with  wavy  'brown 
streaks;  yellow  and  black  on  tail.  When  this  fish 
(which  may  grow  to  four  feet)  is  the  size  of  the  last 
(which  is  grown  at  nine  inches)  it  has  saw-teeth  on 
the  bone  attached  to  the  gill-cover,  while  the  other 
never  has.  The  "  spot "  of  this  same  genus  is  a  small 


278  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

fish  known  by  its  bluish  color  and  fifteen  bars  that 
run  over  it  obliquely.  The  croaker  is  grayish  silvery 
with  wavy  streaks  on  sides,  but  it  is  distinguished 
from  the  weakfish  by  having  barbels  on  the  lower 
jaw. 

The  whiting  and  barb  are  marked  with  oblique 
bands  or  bars,  but  are  distinguished  from  the  "  spot " 
by  having  a  single  stout  barbel  on  lower  jaw  :  Anal 
1  S.,  7  or  8  R.  The  whiting  has  no  black  on  the  lower 
lobe  or  tail -fin  while  the  barb  has.  This  last  has  a 
great  black  blotch  on  the  back  of  the  neck  shaped 
like  a  barb.  It  is  dusky  gray  with  distinct  oblique 
bars.  The  whiting  is  lighter  gray  with  very  faint 
oblique  bars. 

All  these  others  have  had  fine  sharp  teeth  ;  but 
the  drums  have  coarse  blunt  teeth  set  like  stones  in  a 
pavement.  The  great  ocean -drum  is  four  feet  long 
at  its  best,  and  has  many  barbels  on  the  lower  jaw. 
The  fresh-water  drum — with  numerous  other  names 
(sheepshead,  white  perch,  etc.) — has  no  barbels ;  it  is 
two  feet  long.  The  teeth  distinguish  all  of  them  with- 
out the  aid  of  color. 

20.  HADDOCK  OR  ROSEFISH  (Scorpcenidce). — Head 
with  spiny  ridges ;  spiny  points  or  warts  on  gill-cover ; 
dorsal  unbroken,  with  fourteen  spines  ;  sides  and  top  of 
head  scaly  (see  Fig.  39,  page  81). 

We  have  only  one  of  these  in  our  waters.  It 
is  orange-red,  with  some  dark  about  the  gills. 
Sometimes  they  are  found  brown,  but  never  with 
any  markings  or  silvery  whitish,  as  in  sea-basses, 
etc. 


SCULPINS. 


279 


21.  SCULPINS  (Oottidce). — Body  never  wholly 
scaly,  sometimes  naked  and  warty ;  anal  sometimes 
without  spines  (usual  anal  has  one  spine  when  dorsals 
are  spiny).  Pectorals  broad,  high  on  sides ;  ventrals 
low — on  the  throat — narrow  (see  Fig.  46,  page  104). 


FIG.  114.— Haddock  (Metanogrammus  cegelfinus),  upper  figure  on  right. 
Whiting  (Merangus  vulgaris),  upper  figure  on  left.  Cod  (Gadus 
morrhua),  two  lower  figures. 

The  important  species  are  the  sea-raven  and  the 
sculpin.  Each  has  top  of  head  rough  or  ridgy.  The 
first  is  brown,  blotched,  and  waved  with  black.  Dorsal 
of  16  S.,  13  R,  very  long.  The  sculpin  is  brown  with 


280  THE   STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

dark  bars,  the  fins  marked  with  black  :  D.  10  S.,  17  K. 
One  spine  and  three  rays  in  ventral.* 


. 


FIG.   115. — Sea-raven  or  deep-sea  sculpin  (Hemitripterus  hispidus). 

22.  CODFISH,  HAKES,  ETC.  (GadidcB). — Body  long; 
vertical  fins  very  extensive,  with  no  spines,  and  sep- 
arated once,  sometimes  twice  ;  chin  with  barbels  in  all , 
genera  except  one ;  air-bladder  present ;  scales  small 
(see  Fig.  114,  page  279). 

In  the  four-bearded  rockling  the  dorsal  is  divided, 
but  the  first  part  has  only  one  ray  in  front,  somewhat 
like  a  spine  in  shape ;  but  the  rest  of  this  part  is  a 
mere  fringe,  with  no  rays  apparent. 

All  the  other  fishes  have  very  apparent  rays  in 
the  first  part  of  the  dorsal.  In  the  cusk  the  dorsal  is 

*  The  flying  gurnard  (Cephalacanthus  volitans),  the  plain 
gurnards  (Prionotus),  and  the  sculpin  (Hemitripterus  ameri- 
canus)  are  often  called  "  flying-fish,"  but  only  the  first  can  fly 
imperfectly. 


CODFISHES.  281 

single,  D.  98  K. — A.  71.  In  the  codlings  or  hakes, 
and  in  the  ling,  the  dorsal  is  in  two  parts. 

The  squirrel-hake  and  white  hake  have  filaments 
of  rays  extending  beyond  the  dorsal  fin.  Both  have 
a  barbel  on  chin,  and  not  more  than  three  faint  rays 
in  the  ventral  fins,  but  the  former  is  inclined  to  be 
finely  dotted  on  rather  large  scales,  the  latter  plain 
with  small  unmarked  scales.  Fins  of  either,  D.  9  R. — 
57  R. ; .  A.  48  to  50.  Anal  undivided,  of  course. 

In  the  ling  or  burbot  there  are  more  than  three 
rays  in  the  ventral  fins.  Vertical  fins,  D.  13  R. — 
76  R. ;  A.  68  R. 

In  all  the  foregoing  with  dorsal  in  two  parts  the 
lower  jaw  does  not  project,  and  it  has  a  barbel  on  it. 
But  in  the  silver-hake  or  "whiting"  (so  called)  the 
lower  jaw  is  longer  than  the  upper,  and  there  is  no 
barbel'on  the  chin  :  D.  13  R.— 41  R. ;  A.  40  R. 

All  the  rest  of  the  important  cod -forms  have  the 
dorsal  fin  in  three  parts  and  the  anal  fins  in  two. 
In  these  the  pollock  only  has  the  lower  jaw  the  longest, 
the  barbel  faint :  D.  13  R.— 22  R.— 20  R. ;  A.  25  R. 
— 20  R.  In  the  true  cod,  the  tomcod,  and  haddock, 
the  upper  jaw  is  longest.  The  haddock  has  the  front 
part  of  the  dorsal  high  and  sharp-pointed,  the  edge 
incurved  (concave),  while  in  the  true  codfish  it  is  not 
pointed  and  the  edge  is  rounded  outward  (convex). 
In  the  tomcod  the  body  is  dotted  with  fine  points, 
while  in  the  others  the  markings  are  large.  None  of 
the  cods  are  brilliant  or  strongly  marked ;  the  general 
color  is  brown  with  dark  mottlings  or  blotches.  This 
is  a  well-known  family  of  food  fishes,  the  dried  and 


282  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

salted  codfish  making  nearly  every  small  store,  the 
country  over,  smell  as  if  it  were  a  hide -ho  use. 

23.  FLATFISHES  (Pleuronectidce). — Body  oblong, 
flattened ;  one  side  colored,  other  not ;  both  eyes  on 
upper  side,  as  fish  swims  or  rests ;  the  vertical  fins 
long,  forming  a  sort  of  fringe  nearly  all  around  the 
body.  Unlike  as  the  two  families  may  appear,  their 
internal  structure  shows  the  flatfishes  and  the  cod- 
fishes to  be  close  akin  (see  Fig.  11,  page  24:). 

The  flounder-forms  are  distinguished  by  the  edge 
of  gill -cover  being  not  covered  by  scales. 

In  some  cases  the  lateral  line  is  not  distorted  or 
arched  up.  This  is  so  in  the  Greenland  halibut  and 
the  wrinter  flounder.  In  the  former,  besides  its  great 
size  (often  beyond  four  feet),  the  mouth  is  not  much 
twisted,  and  the  dorsal  soft  rays  are  about  100,  the 
anal  rays  about  75.  In  the  winter  flounder  the  mouth 
is  much  twisted  out  of  place  and  the  fins  are  D.  65 
R. — A.  48  R.  In  the  others  (of  importance)  the 
lateral  line  is  distorted,  arched,  or  curved  upward 
toward  the  back  edge,  especially  in  front.  In  the 
great  halibut  (not  the  Greenland)  and  in  the  rusty 
dab  the  eyes  are  on  the  right  side.  In  the  former 
the  mouth  is  not  twisted  much.  The  fins :  D.  about 
100  E. ;  A.  about  80  R. ;  length  often  six  feet.  In  the 
dab  the  mouth  is  much  twisted  or  out  of  place ;  size, 
about  two  feet ;  D.  about  85  II.  ;  A.  about  60  li. 

In  the  so-called  summer  flounders  the  eyes  are  on 
the  left  side.  The  four-spotted  flounder  has  four 
large,  very  plain,  dark  spots  with  the  edges  pinkish. 
The  summer  flounder  proper  has  some  markings  and 


FLATFISHES. 


283 


similar  large  spots  faintly  indicated.  The  southern 
flounder  is  a  dark  yellowish  green,  with  almost  no 
markings  at  all. 


FIG.  116. — Frogfish  or  angler  (Lophius  piscatorius). 
20 


284 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  FISHES. 


Our  only  sole  has  the  gill-cover  scaled  so  as  to  hide 
the  edge  of  it,  and  is  thus  distinguished  from  flounders. 
It  has  no  pectoral  fins  worth  noting,  and  the  ventrals 
are  so  merged  into  the  anal  as  not  to  be  easily  distin- 
guished. The  curious  little  tongue-fish  has  the  ventral 
of  the  upper  side  only  present  and  separate. 

Of  course,  such  curious  fishes  as  the  (24)  REMOKAS 
(see  Fig.  60,  page  189),  the  (25)  FROGFISH-FORMS,  ETC., 


FIG.  117.— Toadfish  (Batrachm  taw). 

are  known  by  their  sucking  disks  on  the  head,  the 
gills  behind  the  pectorals,  etc. 

Here  follows  a  little  key  that  in  the  most  artifi- 
cial way  leads  to  the  families  just  described. 


KEY   TO    THE   FAMILIES   OF   FAMILIAR 
FISHES. 


If  the  character  which  is  peculiar  to  your  fish  is  not  found  at  one 
letter,  go  on  to  the  place  where  the  letter  is  doubled,  and  you  will 
find  the  opposite  characters  affirmed.  Then  turn  back  to  the  number 
to  which  you  are  finally  led,  and  under  the  family  the  species  will  be 
found  described,  if  it  be  a  fish  of  much  importance. 


A.  Eyes  both  on  the  same  side;  body  flat,  fringed  nearly  all 
around  with  fin-rays ;  one  side  colored,  other  nearly  white  ; 
fish  lies  and  swims  on  side.  (This  is  one  of  the) 

FLATFISHES  (23).  - 
A  A.  Eyes  not  both  on  same  side. 

B.  Top  of  head  with  flat  place — a  sucking  disk.    (This  is,  etc.) 

SUCKING-FISHES  (24). 
BB.  Top  of  head  without  sucking  disk. 

C.  Gill-openings  behind  pectoral  fins  ;  these  fins  shaped  as 
if  they  had  stems. 

FROGFISHES  (25). 

CO.  Gill-openings  in  front  of  ordinary  pectorals.    (This  in- 
cludes many  fishes  of  the  usual  kinds.) 
D.  Body  long  and  snakelike  ;  no  ventral  fins.     (It  is  one 

of  the) 

EELS  (10). 

DD.  Body  not  snakelike  ;  ventrals  present. 

E.  Five  rows  of  bony  plates  on  body ;  on  back  a  row 
of  finlets ;   snout  long  and  toothless ;    skeleton 

gristly. 

STURGEON  (1). 

285 


286  THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 

EE.  Not  five  rows  of  plates ;  body  scaly  or  naked. 
F.  Body  naked  and   smooth  ;   head  flat,  blunt — 
quite    wide ;     mouth    very    wide  —  barbels 
about  it. 

CATFISHES  (2). 

FF.  Body  not  naked,  but  always  wholly  or  partly 
scaly. 


(I)  No  Spines  in  the  Fins. 
(If  there  are  spines,  go  on  to  II.) 

G.  Ventrals  well  forward,  under   or  in  front  of   the   pectorals  ; 
Dorsal  fins  very  long,  or  in  two  or  more  parts. 

CODFISHES  (22). 

GG.  Ventrals  not  under  or  front  of  pectorals ;  usually  well  to- 
ward the  rear. 
H.  A  single  fat-  (or  rayless)  fin  near  the  tail  on  the  back. 

SALMONS  (7). 
HH.  No  fat-fins  anywhere. 

J.  A  bony  plate  under  the  lower  jaw  ;  scales  very  brilliant. 

TARPUMS  (5). 
JJ.  No  bony  plate  under  jaw. 

K.  Lateral   line   none;    belly  usually  sharp  and   saw- 
toothed  ;  mouth  almost  or  wholly  toothless. 

HERRINGS  (6). 

KK.  Lateral  line  present,  wholly  or  in  part. 

L.  Lateral  line  very  plain ;    belly  with  sharp  ridge ; 

teeth  on  the  tongue. 

MOON-EYES  (4). 

LL.  Lateral  line  faint  or  broken  or  extending  only 

part  of  the  way  along  the  body. 
M.  Body  rather  oblong;   mouth  small;  no  teeth 

on  jaws. 

SUCKERS  (3). 

MM.  Body  slim  ;  mouth  large ;  large  teeth  every- 
where. 

PIKES  (9). 


KEY  TO   FAMILIES.  287 

(II)  Spines  always  present  in  Fins, 

N.  Lateral  line  absent ;  four  spines  in  dorsal. 

MULLETS  (11). 

NN.  Lateral  line  present  and — 
0.  Running  out  on  tail-fin  rays. 

DRUMS  (19). 
00.  Not  running  out  on  tail-fin. 

P.  Body  never  wholly  scaly ;  sometimes  warty. 

SCULPLNS  (21). 
PP.  Body  always  wholly  scaly. 

Q.  At  least  five  finlets  on  tail-stem  above  and  below, 
behind  other  vertical  fins ;  jaws  not  beak-shaped. 

MACKERELS  (12). 
QQ.  Not  five  finlets  anywhere. 

R.  Spines  in  front  edge  of  anal  fin  never  more  than 
two ;  sometimes  none. 

(If  more  than  two,  go  on  to  RR.) 
S.  Soft  rays   in   the    anal    fin   never  more   than 
twenty. 

PERCHES  (16). 

SS.  Soft  rays  of  anal  finalways  more  than  twenty. 
T.  Teeth  all  weak  and  small. 

POMPANOS  (13). 

TT.  Teeth  unequal,  many  of  them  large  and  set 
backward. 

BLUEFISH  (14). 

RR.  Spines  in  front  edge  of  anal  always  more  than 

two. 
U.  Gill-cover  armed  with  spines  either  on  the 

edge  or  surface. 
V.  Body  red  or  brown,  unmarked ;  spines  on 

surface  of  gill-cover. 

HADDOCK  (20). 

VV.  Body  never  brown  or  red,  either  silvery  or 
striped ;  flat  spines  on  edge  of  gill-cover. 
SEA-BASSES  (17). 


288  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FISHES. 

UU.  Gill-cover  not  armed  or  spiny,  but — 
W.  Round  and  hard  on  rear  edge. 

SNAPPERS  (18). 

WW.  Not  round  but  angled  on  rear  edge, 
with  a  membranous  flap  or  ex- 
tension at  the  bend. 

Common  SUNFISHES  (15). 


INDEX. 


ACCIPENSARID.E,  258. 

^Estivation,  155,  156. 

Affections,  171,  182. 

Agassiz  and  scales,  58,  59. 

Age,  189. 

Air-bladder,  12,  69,  132,   137,  139, 
146,  148,  152. 

Air-spaces,  146,  150,  152. 

Air-swallowing,  126. 

Alewife,  263. 

Alligator-fish,  60. 

Altitude  and  haunt,  164. 

Amoeba,  205. 

Amphibians,  15,  128,  131,  132, 143, 
•146,  148,  255. 

Amphibious  fishes,  149,  155. 

Amphipnous,  152. 

Anabas,  151. 

Anableps,  71. 

Anal-fin,  37. 

Anchoring,  40,  46,  151.     (See  Sea- 
horse, Gobies,  etc.) 

Anchoring  eggs,  173. 

Angel-fish,  44,  253. 

Angler,  27,  41,  54,  73, 117,  168, 187, 

209. 
eggs  of,  174. 

ANGUILLID.E,  266. 

Antennarius,  175. 

Argentinidae,  265. 

Armor,  99,  212. 


Arteries,  132, 134. 
Artificial  hatching,  224. 
Ascidians,  148. 

Backbone,  11, 15,  148, 192,  194. 

Balance,  46,  137,  139,  190. 

Barb,  278. 

Barbels,    66,     67,    75,   94,   97,   187, 

260. 

Barred  perch,  93. 
Basking  shark,  187,  252. 
Bass,   channel,    297.     (See   Black, 

Striped,  etc.) 
Batfish,  41,43. 
Beak,  84,  97,  186. 
Beard,  88. 

Beauty  variable,  86. 
Belly,  sharp  and  toothed,  262. 
Bergylt,  82. 
Bichir,  198,  202,  215. 
Billfish,  97. 
Birds,  as  enemies,  222. 
Black  bass,  154,  165,  177,  270,  272. 
Black  swallower,  1 23. 
Blennies,  151. 
Blind  fishes,  75,  167;  in  caves,  88; 

and  color,  94. 
Blood,  125,  133,  184. 
Blood-vessels,   126,   132,  144,   145, 

190,  194. 
Bluefish,  38,  104,  187,  269. 


290 


THE  STORY  OF   THE  FISHES. 


Body-cavity,  38,  39,  120,  131, 172. 
Bones,  83, 139, 192,  196,  197. 
Bone  in  air-bladder,  139. 
Bonito,  267. 
Bony  fishes,  16.  51,  59, 129, 138, 153, 

172, 189,  193,  199,  256. 
Born  fishes,  189. 
Bottlefish,  123. 
Bowfin,  144,  199;  cut  at  216. 
Brain,  204. 
Bread-basket,  191. 
Bream,  38,  269,  276. 
Breastbone,  198. 
Breathing,   68,   125,  130,  149,   150. 

(See  Respiration.) 
Brook-trout,  165,  265. 
Buffaloes,  158, 175,  261. 
Burbot,  66,  281. 
Burying  self,  153-155. 

Cffical  appendages,  123. 

Csecal  stomach,  121,  122. 

Calico  bass,  270. 

Callichthys,  126. 

Calls,  70, 183. 

Capture,  260,  266. 

CARANGID^E,  268. 

Care  of  young  and  eggs,  177, 189. 

Carps,  57,  67,  118,  189. 
chewing,  185;  ear  of,  69;  thaw- 
ing, 153. 

Catfish,  36,   66,   88,   107,  110,   113, 
154, 155,  165,  177,  178,180,  286; 
family,  259;  nest,  174;  tongue- 
less,  119;  voice  of,  139. 

CATOSTOMID.E,  261. 

Caudal-fin.  33.     (See  Tail-fin.) 

Cavalla,  269. 

Cave  fishes,  167. 

Cement  nest,  175. 

CENTRARCHID^E,  269. 

Ceratodos,  144,  254. 

Channel  bass,  277. 


Charming,  86, 181. 

Chimara,  129,  248,  254. 

Chubs,  67,  95,  120,  174. 

Cilia,  130,  131. 

Circulation,  125,  132,  133,  144, 145, 

152. 

Ciscoes,  264. 
Classification,  16,   21,   35,  52,   118, 

133,  210,  248. 
Climbing  perch,  151. 
CLUPID.E,  262. 
Codfish,  36,  40,  66,  124,   140,  148, 

259,  286. 
family,  280. 
Codfishing,  236. 
Cold  blood,  134. 
Color,  8,  26,  88. 
arrangement,  91. 
changes,  94. 
of  flesh,  91. 
and  light,  88. 
markings,  91. 
protection,  91. 

Colorless  or  white  fishes,  88. 
Connecting  links,  20,  249. 
Co-operation,  170. 
Corals  as  food,  186. 
Cormorants  as  fishers,  244. 
COTTIIXE,  278. 

Courting,  70,  86, 181.     (See  Charm- 
ing, Display,  Play,  etc.) 
Crappie,  165,  270. 
Crawling  fishes,  71. 
Croaker,  278. 
Crossing  divides,  162. 
Cruelty,  188. 
Ctenoid  scales,  62. 
Cusk,  280.     (See  Sand-cusk.) 
Cutlass,  31. 
Cycloid  scales,  61. 

Darter,  189,  273. 
Death,  123,  140,  180,  187. 


INDEX. 


291 


Defense,  123.     (See  Armor,  Weap- 
ons, etc.) 

Definition,  14. 

Deep-sea   fishes,   75,    88,    98,    123, 

166. 
shark,  283. 

Degeneration,  132-1 39, 140, 148, 150, 
201,  202,  204,  256. 

Dermal  bones,  64. 

Descriptions,  258. 

Devil-fish,  102. 

Digestive  tract,  120, 125, 138, 143. 
breathing  by,  125. 

Digging  fishes,  156,  245. 

Dipnoi,  147. 

Diseases,  219. 

Display  of  ornament,  87,  180. 

Dissections,  114. 

Distribution,  160. 

Dogfish,  253. 

Dorsal  fin,  36,  37. 

Double  eye,  71,  72. 

Drag-nets,  238. 

Dragonet,  73,  245. 

Drift-net,  233. 

Drowning  fishes,  130. 

Drums,  277,  287. 

Drying  up  of  fishes,  153. 

Ear,  68 ;  and  air-bladder,  69, 137. 

Ear-bones,  196. 

Eels,  44,  56,  68,  101,  129,  143,  153, 

156,  266,  285. 
blood  poisonous,  266. 
domesticated,  223. 
electrical,  110, 112. 
Electric  eel,  110,  112. 
batteries,  110,  135. 
conditions  of  air  and  fish,  156, 

157. 

ray,  111,  254. 

Egg,  56,  113,  162,  171;  as  a  topic, 
173, 177, 189,  223. 


Egg-laying,  158.    (See  Spawning, 

and  Care  of  Eggs.) 
Eggs  in  capsules,  178. 
ELOPID.E,  262. 
Enamel  on  scales,  57. 
Endurance,  135. 
Enemies,    91,    113,   158,  173,    219 

225. 

Energy  offish,  135,  184. 
Embryology,  34,  50,  57,  69, 126, 139, 

153, 189,  205,  209. 
Escape,  91,  95, 150. 
ESOCID^E,  265. 
Expression,  79. 
Exoskeleton,  55. 
Eye,  7,  28, 70,  76, 190,  282 ;  origin  of, 

76. 

spots,  75. 
lid,  70. 
expression  of,  78,  79. 

Families  of  fishes,  251-259. 

Fasting,  185. 

Fat-fins,  36,  263. 
lids,  71. 

Fat-storing,  124, 185. 

Fatty  spots,  75,  89. 

Feeding,  7, 67, 72, 75, 80,  84, 107, 119, 
123,  141,  154,156,  165-168,  184, 
185. 

Feelers,  40,  41. 

Feeling  light,  76. 

Fierasfers,  36,  168. 

Fighting,  87, 100, 174-177. 

Filaments,  84,  87,  94,  263. 

Finlets,  36,  38,  267. 

Fins,  29, 200-202, 213;  absence  of,  40; 
and  beauty,  85 ;  cutting  off,  48 ; 
edges  of,  46 ;  formula?  of,  259 ; 
footlike,  40 ;  growth  of,  50 ;  leg- 
like, 148, 149 ;  names  of,  32 ;  ori- 
gin, 35,  50 ;  paired,  39 ;  position 
of,  41;  rays  of,  197;  structure 


292 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   FISHES. 


of,    50 ;   uses    of,   48 ;    vertical 

fins,  34. 

Fish-culture,  223. 
Fisheries,  13,  228. 
Fishing-frog,  168. 

wheel,  241. 
Fish-ponds,  223. 
Filefish,  118. 
Flatfishes,  26,  29,  73,  94,  140,  156, 

281,  285. 

Flesh,  color  of,  113. 
Flounder,  93,  282. 
Flying,  13. 
fish,  95,  120,  279. 
gurnard,  279. 
Fly-shooter,  188. 
Food,  157,  179,  184;  and  stomach, 

122;  and  color,  113. 
Force,  184. 
Forkbeard,  40,  79. 
Form,    1,    23;    and    defense,    102, 

254. 
Fossil  fishes,  50-58,  61,  81,  118, 122, 

160,  211,  251. 
Fox-shark,  33,  106. 
Freezing,  153. 

Fresh-water  fishes,  154,  161,  185. 
Frilled  shark,  253. 
Fringe-fins,  202,  215. 
Fringed  gill,  128. 
Frogfishes,  41,  43,  108,  284,  285. 
Fyke-net,  239. 

GADID.E,  280. 

Ganoids,  18.  212. 

Ganoid  scales,  61,  250. 

Garfish,  61,  84,  142,  143,  250. 

Garpike,  61,  84,  142,  143,  250. 

Genera,  251. 

Giant  waterbug,  225,  256. 

Gills,  6, 15,  41,  119, 126-129, 131, 133, 

150,  191;  loss  of,  136;  use  of, 

187 ;  position  of,  33. 


Gill-arches,  128,  254. 

covers,  105, 108, 109, 128,  129,  248, 
265,  273. 

fringes,  150. 

nets,  233,  236. 

opening,  33,  128,  249. 

slit,  33,  128,  249. 

sacs,  152,  153 ;  surface,  150,  152. 

tufts,  126,  127,  205. 
Gizzard-shad,  186,  263. 
Gizzard-like  stomach,  122. 
Glands,  64. 

Globefish,  85,  110,  118,  123. 
Gobies,  40,  94,  151,  245. 
Goggle-  eye,  270. 
Goldfish,  141,  185,  227. 
Grass-bass,  270. 
Grayling,  264. 
Gray  snapper,  276. 
Great  weever,  40. 
Ground-fish,  186. 
Growth,  188,  189. 
Guiding  instinct,  168,  169. 
Gullet,  10, 120, 130 ;  and  air-bladder, 

137  ;  140-146. 

Gurnards,  60,  140,  279.     (See  Sea- 
robin,  Flying  Gurnard.) 

Habits,  4,  13,  80 ;  and  shape,  26,  67  ; 

and  escape,  95, 114  ;  and  loss  of 

parts,    140,   143,  166,  168,  174, 

187,  199. 

Haddock,  278,  281,  287. 
Hagfish,  68,  130,  187;  and  mucus, 

98  ;  and  tongue,  118  ;  egg,  173. 
Hair-fin,  26,  31,  54. 
Hairlike  fringe,  88. 
Hakes,  117,  229,  280. 
Half-fishes,  20. 
Halibut,  282. 

Hammerhead  shark,  73,  252. 
Hatching,  35, 126, 134,  139, 153,  172, 

178,  180,  189,  205,  225. 


INDEX. 


293 


Haunt,  13,  163,  164,  174. 

Head,  7,  20,  27,  78,  195 ;  bony  out- 
side. 60 ;  warty,  61 ;  scaled  or 
not,  60. 

Head-fishes,  27,  31,  38,  90. 

Heat,  135  ;  endurance  of,  154. 

Heart,  11,  126,  132,255. 

Herring,  25,  33,  78,  262,  286. 

Hibernation,  153. 

Hiding,  95,  186.    (See  Escape,  Pro- 
tective Colors,  etc.) 
'  Homes,  4,  13,  157,  163,  164. 

Homing  instinct,  168. 

Horn  and  horns,  80,  102,  103. 

Horny  teeth,  177,  178. 

Huxley  and  shark-teeth,  118. 

HYODONTID.E,  261. 

Identification,  259. 
Incubation,  189. 
Inside  a  fish,  114. 
Intelligence,  181. 
Isinglass,  148. 

Jack-salmon,  274. 

Jaws,  9,  28,  82;    hinging  of,  196, 

249  ;  as  weapons,  101. 
John  Doree,  54,  140. 
Jointed  backbone,  193. 

Key  to  families,  285. 

Lancelet,  21,  56,  69,  76,  81,  131-138, 

193,  195,  203,  205,  252. 
Lake  herring,  264. 
Lake  trout,  265. 
Lampreys,  20,  56,  68,  69 ;  tongue  of, 

119,  130,  138 ;  egg  of,  173,  195, 

198,  203,  224,  252. 
Lateral  line,  10,  70,  97,  261. 
Leaping  falls,  158. 
Le  Conte's  figures,  211  et  seq. 
Lepidosiren,  145,  254. 


Life,  184,  204. 
Limbs,  39,  200,  204. 
Ling,  229,  280. 
Lips,  82. 
Liver,  124,  185. 
Loach,  66  ;  ear  of,  69. 
Lurnpsuckers,  61,  174. 
Lung-fishes   (see  Dipnoi),  18,  68, 

127,  136,  144, 146,  149,  152,  193, 

201,  214,  245,  254. 
Lungs,     128,     132-137,     144,     145, 

152. 
evolution  of,  146. 

Mackerels,  31,  36,   60,  62,  86,  135, 

140,  177,  266,  287. 
Man  as  an  enemy,  113. 
Mantle,  60,  267. 
Mates,  70. 

Menhaden,  229,  263. 
Mennon,  189. 
Migration,  157. 
Mildew,  220. 
Milk  of  fishes,  179. 
Miller's-thumb,  174. 
Milt,  172. 

Mimicry-in  form,  94. 
Motion,    1,  31-39,  40-48,    96,    130, 

148,  150,  225,  226. 
Moonfish,  27,  38,  90. 
Mooneye,  261,  286. 
Mouth,   7,    79,  84,    180,  188;  as   a 

home,  168  ;  as  a  weapon,  100. 
Mucus,  5,  65,  89,  97,  107,  116,  155, 

179. 

Mudfish,  144. 
Mudskippers,  43  (cut),  71,  73,  150, 

187,  245. 
MUGILID.E,  266. 
Mullets,  37,  87,  266,  287. 
Muscles,  131,  139,  202. 
Muscle-force,  184. 
Muskellunge,  265. 


294 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   FISHES. 


Naked  skins,  56,  211. 

Neck,  12. 

Nests,  6, 13,  73, 174;  as  topic,  181. 

Nets,  231  et  seq. 

Nerves,  12,  70,  98,  99,  111,  203. 

of  eyes,  76,  77. 

of  taste,  68. 

Nervous  energy,  135, 184. 
Nictitating  membrane,  70. 
Nose,  nostrils,  7,  68. 
Notochord,  193,199. 

Orders,  251,  256. 

Organs,  152. 

Origin  of  fishes,  159,  226. 

Ornaments,   54,  71,   83,  181.     (See 

Color,  Filaments,  etc.) 
Oxygen,  125, 132,  136. 

Paddlefish,  85. 

Paired  fins,  39,  45, 48 ;  use  of,  when 

forward,  75. 
Pairing  for  life,  182. 
Palate,  68. 

Parasites,  120,  186,  219. 
Parasitic  fish,  159,  167, 180. 
Parrot- wrasse,  117. 
Parts  of  a  fish,  22. 
Paths,  175. 
Pearl-spots,  75. 
Pectoral  fins,  33, 41,  52,  96, 102, 190, 

200. 

"  Pee-yurch,"  269. 
Penfish,  276. 

Perch,  269,  287 ;  family,  273. 
Perch -forms,  79. 
PERCIDJD,  273. 
Pharynx,  10,  119,  180. 
Phosphorescence,  75,  88,  98. 
Pickerel,  154,  265. 
Pigfish,  276. 
Pikes,  83, 117,  265,  286. 
Pike-perch,  274. 


Pilchards,  236. 

Pilot-fish,  166,  268. 

Pipe-fishes,  37,  94,  128,  178. 

Placo-ganoids,  213,  219. 

Plaice,  94. 

Plates,    56-59,    213,  259;    used    as 

teeth,  117. 
Play,  180,  181. 
PLEURONECTID^E,  281. 
Pocket  for  young,  178. 
Poise,  46.     (See  Balance.) 
Poisonous  weapons,  97,  107,  108. 

flesh,  113. 
Pollacks,  281. 

POMAFOMID.E,  269. 

Pompano,  2(i8,  287. 

Pondfish,  269. 

Porcupine-fish,  59,  85. 

Pores,  97, 131.    (See  Lateral  Line.) 

Porgy,  277. 

Port  Jackson  shark,  252. 

Pouches  for  egg  and  young,  178. 

Pound-net,  239. 

Pouts,  261. 

Pi-otopterus,  145,  155,  254. 

Psychology,  183. 

Pulsating  bulbs,  132,  133. 

Pursed  seines,  238. 

Raining  fishes,  161. 

Rangely  Luke  trout,  265. 

Rays  of  the  shark-forms,  31,  34,  45, 
73,  80,  107;  electric,  111,  129, 
141,  187,  209,  253  (cut), 
of  fins,  12,  50,  55. 

Red  snapper,  276. 

Regrowing  lost  parts,  53,  221. 

Remora,  159,  244,  284. 

Repair,  53,  221. 

Reptiles,  132,  146. 

Respiration,  6,  125,  143,  146. 

Ribbon-fish,  26. 

Ribs,  198. 


INDEX. 


295 


Ring-and-staple    joint    of   spines, 

54. 

Rock-bass,  270. 
Rockling,  280. 
Roe.    (See  Eggs,  172.) 

Sand-cusk,  35,  66,  153. 

Sand-perch,  153. 

Sand-pike,  274. 

Salmons,  36, 83, 118, 122, 158 ;  forms, 
164,  174;  family,  263,  286. 

SALMOXID.K,  263. 

Sauger,  274. 

Sawfish,  28,  102,  116,  253,  268. 

Scad,  268. 

Scales,  5,  55  ;  classification  by,  61 ; 
beauty  of,  85 ;  origin  of,  56  ;  ar- 
rangement, 63,  251. 

Schools,  180. 

Sci.ENIIKfi,  277. 
SCOMBKID/E,  266. 
ScORP.ENIDiE,  278. 

Sculpins,  106,  287,  278. 

Scutes,  58,  60. 

Sea-cucumber  as  host  for  fierasfer, 

168. 
Sea,  original  home  of  fishes,  160. 

bass,  287. 

fishes,  158,160,  185. 

horse,  34,  46,  178,  179. 

porcupine,  106. 

raven,  280. 

robin,  54,  60,  140,  279. 
Seaweed  homes,  166. 
Seeing,  70. 
Seine,  236. 
Senses,  7,  8,  64. 
Serpent-head,  174. 
SERRANID^E,  275. 
Sewing  fishes.  175. 
Sex,  86, 172, 178. 
Shad,  26. 
Shading  of  body,  92. 


Shagreen,  58,  118. 

Sharks,  70,   80,  127,  133,  136,  141, 

166,  180, 187,  193, 199,  244,  253  ; 

fins  of,  38 ;  scales  of,  57  ;  spines 

of,  53. 
Shark- forms,  19,  128,  138,  173,  196, 

201,  252. 

Sheepshead,  276. 
Shoals  and  fishes,  165, 170,  180. 
Shooting  prey,  188. 
Shoulder-joint,  201,  202. 
Sight,  76. 

SlLURID.E,  250. 

Silver  hake,  281. 

Siphonal  stomach,  121,  122. 

Size,  188,  253,  265  ;  of  eye,  73,  75. 

Skates,  31,  44,  254. 

Skeleton,  18,  19,  55,  116,  197,  199. 

Skin,  8,  64,  97;   as  a  builder,  55; 

breathing   by,  131 ;  extending 

over   eyes,    70 ;    color   of   86 ; 

covering    of,     8 ;    spines    on, 

60,  61. 

"  Skin-bones,"  195. 
Skull,  64,  195. 
Sleep,  73, 153, 156. 
Snappers,  276,  287. 
Smell,  68. 
Smelts,  122,  265. 
Snout,  29,  72. 
Social  feelings,  171. 
Sole,  282. 
Song,  183. 
"  Sounds,"  148. 
Spanish  mackerel,  267. 
SPARIDJS,  276. 

Spawning,  158, 171, 172, 177. 
Species,  252,  256. 
Speed,  4,  34,  78. 

Spookfish,  88,  129,  193,  248,  254. 
"  Spot,"  277. 

Spinal  column,  197, 198,  204. 
Spinal  marrow,  194,  204. 


296 


THE  STORY   OF   THE  FISHES. 


Spines,  12,  30,  36,  50,  59,  105,  117  ; 

on  scales,  59  ;  fastening  of,  54  ; 

how  hinged,  54 ;  barbed,  107  ; 

grooved  or  hollow,  108 ;  on  tail, 

107,  254. 
Spoon,  266. 
Squirrel-hake,  280. 
Stargazer,  73. 
Stickleback,  37,  94,  105,  174,  177, 

189. 

Sting-ray,  253,  254. 
Stomach,  10,  26,  52,  100,  120,  121, 

265. 

Stone-toter,  174. 
Storing  fat,  124. 
Striped  bass,  275. 
Sturgeon,  180,  193,  285. 
Sturgeon-forms,   18,   58,   127,    138, 

141-144,  212,  255,  259. 
Sturgeon  family,  259. 
Style  of  a  fish,  78. 
Suckers,  158,  187,  261,  286. 
Suckfish,  159,  244,  285. 
Sucking  disks,  37,  40.     (See  Remo- 

ras,  Gobies,  etc.) 
Sunfishes  (fresh- water),  27, 161, 164, 

175 ;  family,  269,  287  ;   of  the 

sea,  90. 
Surgeons,  107. 
Swallow-tail,  120. 
Swellfish,  59,  123. 
Swim-bladder,  137.    (See  Air-blad- 
der.) 

Swordfish,  28,  40,  85,  102,  137. 
SYMBRANCHID^E,  152. 

Tail,   30,   198,   199;    bent  up,   33; 

prehensile,     44;    as     weapon, 

106. 

Tail-fin,  37,  45,  87, 199. 
Tarpums,  262,  286. 
Taste,  67, 119. 
Tear-glands,  71. 


Teeth,  9,  58,  101,  116,  217,  278. 
Tentacles,    187,    209.      (See    Bar- 
bels.) 

Terrifying,  84,  103,  106. 
Thayer,  Abbott  H.,  93. 
Threadtish,  30. 

Thresher  (shark),  33,  106,  253. 
Throat,  120. 

Thunder  and  fishes,  157. 
Toadfish,  174,  284. 
Tomcod,  281. 

Tongue,  118  ;  and  taste,  68. 
Tongue-fish,  284. 
Toothed  scales,  63. 
Torpedo,  111,  112. 
Touch,  65. 

Traps  and  trapping,  239. 
Travel,  225,  226. 
Trawl-nets,  231. 

lines,  241. 
Trolls,  241. 
Trout,  86, 187. 
Trumpet-fish,  79,  84. 
Trunk-fish,  59. 
Tunny,  198  (cut,  268). 
Turbot,  34,  35,  103. 

Unicorn-fish,  103. 
Unpaired  fins,  33,  34. 
Upland  fishes,  126,  157. 

Vent,  40. 

Ventral  fins,  33,  39,  48,  52,  178. 
Vertebra,  15, 193,  196,  204. 
Vertical  fins,  32. 
Vestiges,  171,  205,  254. 
Voice,  70,  139,  140,  183. 

Walking  fishes,  39. 
Warts,  60. 
Weakfish,  277. 
Weapons,  9,  83,  85,  100. 
Weather  and  fishes,  156. 


INDEX. 


Weever,  great,  110. 
Weirs,  239. 
White-bass,  275. 

Whitefish,  264. 
Whiting,  278. 
White  perch,  275. 
Worms,  203,  205. 
Wounds,  healing,  221. 
Wrasses,  67,  82,  174. 


Yolk  of  egg,  190. 

Young  fishes,  6,  34,  57,  73,  97,  134, 
172,  181,  189,  193,  205  ; 

care  of,  168,  177  ; 

scales  on,  63. 
Yellow-bass,  275. 
"  Yellow  mackerel,"  268. 
Yellow  perch,  273. 
Yellow-tail,  277. 


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